And Darkness Prevails
by To-MAH-To
Summary: Vampires, Oracles, premonitions, blood magic, and slash? The story of Naruto, but greatly altered due to additions of vampires throughout ninja history. Lots of pairings. Main pairings but not all are: NaruGaa; ShikaTema; KankShin; and KakaIruka.
1. Prologue

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Prologue – Sunagakure_

The Kazekage glared down at the old woman, daring her to say something he wouldn't like. This attitude in itself was practically blasphemous, especially for the leader of the Village Hidden in the Sand—Sunagakure. He got away with things that most of the Kazekages had never dared to even attempt, because it was considered to be a damnable act to mistreat the Oracle in any way whatsoever.

"Hurry up and get on with it, you swine," the Kazekage growled out his command, but Chiyo just sat in her trance, completely ignoring him. She was in the middle of her most sacred trance—her death trance, after which she would die. She was the last person in Suna born with the third sight of the Oracle, and after she died, it was doubtful that another would appear.

The Kazekage hit her on the head. Her body swung forward, but she still sat, undaunted, waiting to be enlightened.

Finally, she began to speak.

"I see… vampires, our most ancient enemy… A great leader will unite our nation with that of the _Akatsuki_, the immortals that have been plaguing our land for so long… Your son shall kill you, and become this leader. He will lead us, and we will become a force so great that we shall no longer hide from the other villages, but dominate them… I see three people who will change the world… But my vision is failing…"

"Damn you!" the Kazekage smacked the back of her head, using all of his force. It was flung forward so far that her nose was only an inch or two from hitting on the floor. She slowly erected herself again and continued to speak, as if she hadn't been hit in the first place.

"I see three young people… But my vision is blurry… I see one with spiky, blond hair… A person with a dark and strangely shaped mass upon their head… and someone who is defined by their unfathomable rage and bright hair… I cannot see their eyes or faces, but they look like Temari, Kankarou, and Gaara…" her eyes opened, and see glanced up at the Kazekage.

"Which son kills me?" the man asked with vehemence to his voice. He did not care that his children would lead the nation to new heights, nor that his nation would finally make a peace treaty with the vampires, who had terrorized them for nearly a century. No – the thing that was of greatest importance to him was that he continue to hold his god-like power over his citizens, for as long as he possibly could.

Chiyo began a coughing laugh. "One kills you if you do nothing…. The other kills you if you try to prevent your death. May you rot in Hell…" she coughed a few times, sputtering blood across the floor.

The Kazekage's eyes filled with rage and he began to beat the old, dying woman mercilessly. She was laughing maniacally as he hit her for two reasons. For one, she was so close to dying that she couldn't feel anything anymore. The other reason was that she knew what his fate was to be, and no matter which son would kill their father, it was going to be more painful than anything she'd ever been subjected to by him.

She fell over on the floor, exhaling her last dying breaths. The Kazekage continuously kicked her, bruising her stomach and breaking her ribs. He dealt a few kicks to her face, but by that time, she had already died.

The sad part about the abuse he'd dealt was that he'd always gotten away with it—only the Kazekage was allowed to see or speak to the Oracle—even after death.

After he was sure she was dead, he pulled her body onto a stretcher and dragged a sheet over her, tightly binding the sheet to the stretcher so that no one could see her, even accidentally.

He left the body lying on the floor for some young Chunin to take to the crematorium later. He stepped onto the adjacent balcony where everyone was waiting below for him to deliver the result of the Oracle's death vision.

"Citizens of Sunagakure!" He called out, leaning across the rail of the balcony. He suddenly took on the persona of a leader, easily fooling the masses into thinking that he was a kind, caring man. "Our great Oracle Chiyo has just passed," whispers ignited through the crowd, and his voice carried a tinge of sadness.

"Her dying vision said that our village would finally make a truce with the vampires who have been plaguing our village. She has also said that the truce was to be made when I," he paused for effect, staring into the crowd, "Become a strong vampire myself."

The crowd gasped, talking in quick, hushed whispers amongst each other.

"I shall live for an eternity, ruling over Sunagakure long after many of your grandchildren are dead," everyone began whispering again. "And I shall be the one to lead our nation to a level of greatness that no village has ever achieved before—we shall dominate!"

He was never bothered by lying to his citizens. After all, many times, he'd been able to change the outcome of Chiyo's visions, simply by lying about them to the populace. The visions were always recorded by an archaic, chakra-powered force, but only the current Kazekage would be able to read such records. And the current Kazekage was so ruthless that he would only be replaced when he had died; whether he was murdered, died of sickness, or died of old age.

Everyone cheered, except for the two people who stood off to the side, a balcony below and to the left of their father—Suna's very own Temari and Kankarou.

* * *

Later that night, Temari and Kankarou spoke in hushed whispers for hours upon hours, until dawn was nearing its peak. They both agreed that their father had lied about the vision—and they had agreed on the same thing many times before.

"But this time," Kankarou said, extremely annoyed, "He's trying to become immortal."

"And cheat you out of becoming Kazekage, right?" Temari asked sardonically. She was the eldest sibling, and she was the most qualified out of her siblings to become a leader. She was stronger than Kankarou and much more sane than Gaara. But Sunagakure law stated that the eldest _son_ would become Kazekage, not just the eldest offspring.

"Well," Kankarou didn't know what to say to his sister's jealousy, "That's true, but more importantly, he's going to run Suna into the ground. I just wish that we could read that damn prophecy ourselves."

"Now, either way, you know it's impossible. The records only allow the current Kazekage to see them, and at any rate… We're going to need to talk to Gaara."

"Gaara? I don't really think…"

"He's the only one in all of Sunagakure that has the strength to stop us, should he suddenly side with our father. He's not stable enough to make rational decisions quickly – if we surprise him with an attack, he might side with him, or just try to kill us all. Even though the man has been trying to kill Gaara since he was practically born…"

"Practically? Father's been trying to kill him since he found out he fucked up with him… You know, when he killed—"

"Shut the fuck up and let's go talk to our dear little brother," Temari bit out, her voice full of sarcasm again. She stood up, and yanked her brother up by the collar with a rough jerk.

Kankarou almost said his thoughts out loud, but he knew that if he had, it would probably result in a lot of pain, and possibly death. His thought was: 'Try that when I'm Kazekage. I can almost taste it…'

* * *

Gaara was sitting on the shelf beside his window, glaring out at Suna. He felt nothing but hatred for everyone else – the only one, aside from himself, that he cared for was his mother. And this, in itself, defied all logic, as his mother had died during his childbirth.

Even though the death had been necessary in making Gaara the container of the Ichibi, the One-Tailed Demon, everyone had since said that Gaara had killed his mother.

But how could an infant kill a woman? It defied logic.

"_It doesn't matter,"_ the sickening yet sultry voice whispered in the back of his mind. _"We're together now, and we'll always be together…"_

"Yes, mother," Gaara mumbled, holding his forehead, hand clamped over the mark. The mark that read "love" in kanji. It wasn't something _he'd_ chosen… It was something that his mother had wanted for him. And he could have only done it if his mother had wanted it – she was the one who controlled when the Sand Shield was up or down.

Getting the mark was the single clearest memory of his childhood. The pain that he had felt… the only time that he had ever felt… was because of 'love.' He was to only love one person – himself. He must make sure that he survived at all costs, that he was kept alive so that he and his mother could live on together.

In his psychotic, insomniac mind, it made perfect sense.

He heard a knock at the door. He continued to stare out of the window, hating all of the people who lived in the buildings that looked like rock. And rocks… rocks were basically big piles of sand. How he wished that he could just summon up all of his strength, and kill all of the citizens of the village.

The door opened, and his cowardly sister and brother walked into his room, their guard obviously up.

"Gaara," his sister's voice was full of false bravery, but held the shaky undertones of a truly scared person. Scared of him and his mother – as well they should be. "Gaara, we need to talk."

"Did you hear our father's…? I mean, did you hear the Kazekage's speech today?" Kankarou asked. Gaara twitched inwardly when he heard Kankarou say the words 'our father.' The Kazekage had never been a father to him, or to anyone, for that matter, after his precious wife was dead.

"I did," Gaara finally responded.

"He's trying to become more powerful. Kankarou is the next in line to lead… He is planning to assassinate the Kazekage, so that we can find out what the Oracle actually said. Since it was her dying trance, it has to be extremely important," Temari explained quickly, not wanting to be in the room with Gaara for long. He gave her this uneasy feeling, like he could turn on them at any time. And ever since she'd been nearing his room, she'd felt like something horrible was about to happen. And the death of her father wasn't a horrible thing – she felt like something much worse would happen.

"Kill… the Kazekage?" Gaara's interest suddenly piqued. "Let me do it!" he suddenly yelled, jumping forward and knocking over a clay vase in the meantime.

"Be quiet," Kankarou hissed. "If we're caught before we can go through with it, we're ruined. I have Karasu standing guard, but even so, it's hard to focus in more than one direction at a time…"

"You really should work on that," a deep, rumbling voice sounded behind Kankarou.

Kankarou turned around quickly. "Baki!" he hissed. Baki was an informal teacher for the three of them – he taught them basic ninja techniques, and basic battling methods, sometimes strategy, but he was useless in being _actually_ helpful to them. He didn't use puppets like Kankarou, or wind like Temari, and certainly not sand like Gaara. He was basically there to help keep them in line, and to keep an eye on the children of the Kazekage.

Gaara, already worked up, began whispering to his mother.

"Can I kill him?" his voice was a hiss, otherworldly and _creepy_. "He's in our way… let me kill him… I haven't killed in so long, no blood… I want to prove my existence… Kill? I can? Yes, mother, we'll kill together!"

Temari had been inching towards the door, trying to leave the room. Her 'bad feeling' was escalating into an unbelievable high, panic and fear rising within her. Baki, however, was blocking the one exit… and she was the closest to her younger brother.

Gaara's arm shot upward, and his gourd of sand was suddenly uncorked and propelling sand from its mouth. Temari tried to push past Baki, but even in her scramble, she wasn't quick enough – she was in the line of fire between Gaara and Baki.

Gaara flung his arm in Baki's direction, aiming for his chest in a long, sweeping motion. The path that the sand took swept down in an arc nearing the floor, and then jutted up – right through Temari's midsection and into Baki's lung.

It was almost as if he'd wanted to cause his sister as much bodily pain as possible, while also killing Baki.

Temari felt a numbing shock spread throughout her midsection, which slowly gave way to the greatest pain she'd ever felt in her life. She was dizzy – when Gaara moved the sand, she fell forward. She would have simply landed on her face, had Kankarou not lunged forward to catch her.

She could hear Kankarou crying out her name, begging that she be alright, and asking her to hold on. She could hear the sounds of Baki dying above her. But once a ninja, always a ninja – even as she lay dying, she could feel someone else's presence appear behind them.

"Kan… look…" she coughed out, her eyes flitting behind him. She gave a loud cough, and blood sputtered out of her mouth. There was blood _everywhere_.

Kankarou laid her down as easily as he could before jumping up, ready to fight. He was expecting his father, or another one of his father's guards.

But, instead, he saw the last person he'd expected. A man with stark red hair, and the eyes of a lifeless puppet.

The greatest puppet ninja to have ever lived. In fact, the first puppet ninja.

Sasori of the Sand.

He'd disappeared decades before Kankarou was born. He was supposed to have become the next Oracle, after his grandmother died or passed on the position to him. But, instead, he'd chosen to follow the vampires – and once someone was turned, they lost all precognitive ability that made up an Oracle.

"Do you want your sister to live?" Sasori asked.

"What, mother? Kill him, too? Or finish off Temari? Who to kill? I need more blood… to take more lives… Mother…"

Sasori's eyes shifted from Kankarou to Gaara. "We do not have time for your silly games, Ichibi." He walked up to Gaara, his eyes locked directly into Gaara's. He waved his hand over Gaara's face, and a clouded mist of blood red emanated from his palms. Gaara's eyes fluttered and he fell to his knees, sedated.

"Now," Sasori turned back to Kankarou. "Do you want your sister to live on, as I do?" Sasori was staring hard at Kankarou – the look made him nervous.

"Yes," Kankarou finally choked out.

"Then go kill your father," Sasori motioned to the door. "While I heal her, and turn her into one such as I am."

Kankarou looked down at his sister, and back at Sasori, distrust in his eyes. "Please," Sasori spat out the word sarcastically. "If I wanted to kill either you or your sister, I would do it without such petty tricks. I need not lie – even as a human, I could have defeated you easily. And now that I am a vampire? It would be but a child playing with a fragile doll."

Kankarou gulped, nodded, and dashed out of the room. He already had a plan – one of his puppets had taken place of one of the guards that watched over the Kazekage as he slept. And, apparently, he had yet to notice. His father was already asleep – killing him was as simple as the movement of a few fingers.

Sasori knelt down beside Temari. "You've lost enough blood," Sasori said, noting her wound. He placed his hands over it, fanning them over the wounds just above the worst of it. The same red mist that had sedated Gaara came from his palms again, but this time, it was slowly fixing Temari's insides.

After nearly a half hour of Sasori healing Temari, Kankarou burst back into the room. "He's dead," he muttered, before kneeling back beside his sister. "You're not done yet?"

"When a vampire is turned, their body is in the same state for all eternity," Sasori never looked up from his work. "Your sister would be better off dead than living forever with a gaping hole in her torso. And it takes a while, because the blood magic gets weaker and weaker as time wears on."

Sasori pulled away from his work and looked at Kankarou. "My orders were not to only turn your sister – they were to offer immortality to you and your younger brother as well."

Kankarou blinked a few times, shocked. Before he could respond, Gaara began talking. "Yes… Mother says that I will have immeasurable power… and I will get to end many, many lives…"

"And yourself?" Sasori asked, staring at Kankarou for an answer.

"I… I… I'll do it," Kankarou finally stuttered out. He didn't want to be the only one out of his siblings that _did not_ become a vampire, after all – that was like painting a large target on his back.

"Very well. Take off your shirt – I'll need more blood to turn your sister," Sasori instructed. Kankarou quickly did what was asked of him, taking off his shirt deftly and tossing it aside. "Full body paint? You truly are an amateur," Sasori shook his head slowly. The paint that adorned Kankarou's body wasn't for show –it was to use as chakra pathways, so that he could better control his puppets.

Sasori, without warning, quickly latched himself to Kankarou's neck. Had it been anyone but the cold, callous Sasori of the Sand, Kankarou would have thought it to be an intimate position – but the puppeteer was so business-like about everything, that Kankarou wondered if he even enjoyed feeding.

When Sasori pulled away, Kankarou had lost a great deal of blood. He felt dizzy, as if he was going to pass out at any moment.

"The vampire whose blood turns you always has a sort of… persuasion over a person. Drink this vial," Sasori tossed Kankarou a bottle of blood, marked 'Konan.'

Kankarou didn't pause to think – he just downed the large vial of vampire's blood. What choice did he have now?

Meanwhile, Sasori was slitting open one of his wrists. Temari had regained some strength after being healed so much – the only marks that showed she'd ever been hurt was a large, ugly red mark that stretched across her stomach. Her condition now was just slightly worse than Kankarou's, and she was awake enough to drink the blood.

When Sasori was certain that Temari had gotten enough of his blood, and that Kankarou had drunk the entire contents of his bottle, he moved to Gaara. He was still sedated, more or less.

"The Ichibi knows what to do, right?" Sasori asked. He already knew about the sand shield, and he knew that Gaara couldn't be harmed unless the Ichibi, for whatever reason, willed it.

"Yes… Mother says… it'll be okay…" patches of sand from Gaara's wrist fell away, revealing another soft layer of skin underneath. The sand continued to fall away up and down Gaara's arm, giving Sasori complete access to the arm.

Sasori pulled out a knife, and quickly sliced up the boy's arm length-wise. Gaara hissed in pain, but he didn't move to fight Sasori, so he kept working. Blood flowed freely from the wound, dripping down the ground.

Sasori was one of the few vampires who did not indulge in over-gorging himself on blood, so he simply squeezed the wound to force the blood to flow out faster. When Gaara had suffered enough blood loss, Sasori healed the wound, and handed Gaara another vial of blood. This one was nearly twice the size of Kankarou's, and was marked, 'Pein.'

Gaara drank it with such gusto that Sasori wondered if he'd drunk blood before, out of curiosity. He seemed the type to do something like that.

Sasori walked away from Gaara, and back to Kankarou. He was still awake, and starting to feel the vampire blood turning him. Sasori remembered how it felt – the burning ache that spread throughout your blood, which felt like a burning brand in your chest and like needles in your veins. Yes, he remembered it all too clearly.

"The rules of vampirism. First off, you must listen to anything our organization says – even in regards to ruling your own village. Secondly, blood magic does not work during the day… only at night. Thirdly, you must drink every day, but not necessarily enough to kill a person. Well, maybe at first," Sasori tilted his head, considering Kankarou. He noted that Kankarou was beginning to feel more of the pain from being turned.

"Well. Just remember the first one for now," Sasori shook his head. "I'll be back in a few days to discuss vampirism more. Until then," Sasori said as he melded with the darkness of the corridor, leaving as silently as he had come.

**A/N: This chapter takes place around 300 years before the next chapter. And yes, Gaara has to be out-of-his-mind crazy. I also bring the Oracle thing up again… I think with just one person, I can't think of another person who has Oracle-esque powers. **

**M rating is for violence and some semi-sexual situations later. No lemons, unless my beta wants to write them. XD Speaking of my beta, I have one! I have a bad comma tendency, and... **

**Anyways. I have up to Chapter 15 planned, so hopefully I'll get that far before being attack by writer's block. I'm doing a lot at once over break now, but things might be slower when schools starts back up again. **

**And... that's it. Please review!  
**


	2. Chapter 1

**And Darkness Prevails**  
_Chapter One – Uzumaki Naruto!_

Naruto awoke with a start, his arm burning. He'd been doing too much training the day before… so much chakra being channeled into his right arm burnt out the pathways somewhat, and that was the one thing that hurt for the Kyuubi to fix.

How long was it now that he'd known about the Kyuubi? With the skirmishes between Konoha ninja and vampires, the Kyuubi container was a necessary part of the fighting force. Therefore, he'd gotten so much extra training since he was… Eight, he believed. Maybe six. It was the year after he entered the Academy, anyways.

Even with all of his extra fighting training, however, one thing was still eluding him – how to make a bunshin, a clone of himself. All the other students made it seem so easy, but… The Kyuubi himself explained why Naruto couldn't do it. It required so little chakra to make an illusion of a clone that when Naruto tried, no matter how little chakra he put into the bunshin, he'd always put far too much to make a correct clone.

And, at any rate, Sarutobi had wanted Naruto to graduate with students his own age. After that, if he became a Chunin or a Jonin somewhat early, that was just fine. But Sarutobi wanted him to truly be a part of a _team_, to know what it meant to have someone else's back, and for someone else to have yours.

In a sense, Naruto was glad that Sarutobi put such limitations on his growth. After all, Naruto was still a kid… he still just wanted to have fun, and his reasons for becoming strong were very childish.

He just wanted people to stop looking at him as a demon – he wanted people to see him for his own strength, his own prowess. Not the Kyuubi's.

And for that same reason, Naruto Uzumaki got up far before dawn, before any of the other ninjas would be awake. He grabbed his buckets of paint, his paintbrushes, and sprinted for the Hokage monument.

* * *

Iruka hit him _really_ hard for that one. Not that Naruto ever minded – being hit by Iruka meant that he was the only one in the entirety of Konoha who gave a damn about what he did.

"Naruto, don't you know who those guys are?" Iruka demanded, gesturing wildly at the monument.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto let out a sigh. History lesson. "There's the First Hokage, who made the village. The Second Hokage, who made the treaty with the vampires. The Third Hokage, who's the current geezer running this village. And the Fourth Hokage, who died putting the damn Kyuubi in… I mean, died protecting Konoha from the demon. I _got_ it, Iruka."

Iruka's face fell as Naruto mentioned the demon, and Naruto automatically felt badly for bringing it up. For one, the demon had killed Iruka's parents. Naruto, even now, worried whether Iruka resented him for the Kyuubi – after all, the Kyuubi was technically a part of himself.

"Well. I'm glad you know who they _are_, at least, and most of what they did," Iruka let out a sigh. "Clean up the damn mess now, and then we'll go get some dinner."

"Dinner?" Naruto's interest was piqued now. He might actually _do_ the cleaning.

"Yeah, I'll treat you to ramen…" Iruka had barely gotten the statement out, when Naruto quickly hugged him, and got right to working.

"Remember! You said you'd treat!" Naruto yelled out, already planning on eating three times as much as a boy his age should be able to.

"Yeah, but I _didn't_ say that it was all-you-can-eat," Iruka scoffed, leaning against the rock. When he was sure that Naruto wasn't looking, he pried open the first volume of 'Icha Icha Paradise.' He'd promised Kakashi that he'd read it, but he _didn't_ promise that he'd **like** it.

* * *

That night, as he brushed his teeth, the Kyuubi's voice suddenly filtered into his mind. Naruto nearly dropped his toothbrush in shock, still not exactly _used _ to speaking with the Kyuubi telepathically.

"Oi! I told you to stop that!" Naruto yelled, knocking himself lightly on the head, as if that would quiet the Kyuubi.

"_Naruto, your graduation test is in what, three days? You don't want to graduate __**after**__ your class, do you?"_ the voice was rumbling and sly – just how a gigantic fox-demon should sound.

"Well, yeah… That bastard Sasuke will probably laugh at me to my face, and Sakura …" Naruto's head flung forward in exasperation.

The Kyuubi let out a groan of frustration, tired of his host's immaturity. _"Yes, well, I thought up a way to help you. But we'd have to do a lot of training. And start right away. Is that a problem?"_

"Not… not at all! But why will this work, and not…?"

"_It's called a Kage Bunshin – a Shadow Clone technique. You'll be able to master it easily enough, because it's more… on your level."_

"Okay, okay! What do I do?"

* * *

"_You learned it much more quickly than I expected. It only took you, what, an hour or two last night?"_ the Kyuubi didn't praise Naruto often – but that could have been, in part, due to Naruto's lack of care.

Naruto let out a yawn. "I guess so," he said, rubbing his eyes. He was more annoyed at the Kyuubi – he had grossly underestimated Naruto's abilities. And, because of that, Naruto had started training far too early – it could have at _least_ waited until Naruto got a good night's sleep.

"_Yeah, well, I'm sorry. The last time I saw someone learn the jutsu, it took them a good three days of studying, and they were __**way**__ more skilled than you. Hell, you should feel flattered that I thought you could do it in just two days,"_ the Kyuubi fell into a deep silence, similar to the silence after hearing a phone being hung up. So silent that you know they're done speaking with you.

Naruto let out a sigh. Not that he cared whether or not the Kyuubi was speaking with him – a good deal of the time, the Kyuubi kept him out of trouble… But then again, sometimes he got into trouble because of it, so it all balanced out.

He sat down in class, ignoring his position in the classroom. He had a few seats that he _hated_ having, and those were the seats beside Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji. Kiba was a loudmouth, even when he slept; Shikamaru was a smartass; and Chouji never shared. But the one seat that Naruto always coveted was the one beside Sasuke. True, Sasuke was an annoyingly silent bastard, but if Naruto sat there, then at least the girls took notice of him – because he'd taken the seat they all wanted.

He looked around the room. The only girls in the class were… Hinata Hyuuga, and a couple others that weren't bold enough to take the seat next to the sex-god of the class. Ignoring the fact that he'd just referred to Sasuke as a sex god, Naruto quickly took the seat next to Sasuke. They didn't speak to each other – Sasuke didn't even look at him, but kept glaring forward, with a look on his face that seemed to say the blackboard had offended him.

It didn't take long for the other girls to come in the class and yell at Naruto.

"_Move_, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, stamping her foot and slamming her hand on the desk in front of Naruto. "Sasuke doesn't want to sit next to _you_."

"Oh, hi Sakura!" Naruto ignored her command. He didn't want to move – unless it was to sit next to Sakura himself.

"No, Sasuke wants to sit next to _me_," Ino Yamanaka stood behind Sakura, a triumphant look on her face. "Not the girl with the big forehead."

"Well, at least I smell better than a _pig_."

Sasuke let out a small noise of displeasure, but otherwise didn't say anything. "Why does everyone want to sit next to _this_ guy, anyways?" Naruto demanded, jumping up. He climbed on the desk, and perched just in front of Sasuke. "There's nothing _special_ about him. And he doesn't _talk_ – there's nothing cool about being a mute."

"What, are we jealous?" Sasuke asked smoothly. Naruto, now glaring instead of staring, growled and leaned closer.

"Jealous of _you_? Why would I be jealous of a little reject like…"

"Naruto! Sit down in your seat!" Iruka yelled from the doorway.

"Iruka-sensei! I wasn't doing anything—" Naruto had turned to face his teacher when he lost his balance horribly. And fell into Sasuke's lap.

Unbeknownst to Sasuke, Naruto, or Sakura, someone had pulled out a camera and taken a quick picture – a young Kiba Inuzuka. He figured that the picture would be useful for blackmail one day or another.

"What are you doing to Sasuke?" Sakura yelled, hitting him on the head. Naruto grasped his head in pain, whining to himself.

"Never mind _that_, just get **off**," Sasuke growled out, shoving Naruto forward and off of the bench. Sakura took her opportunity and quickly stole Naruto's spot beside Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke," Sakura said, scooting closer to Sasuke on the bench. When she did, Naruto quickly took the edge spot, right beside Sakura.

"Ugh, I think I preferred having Naruto in my lap…" Sasuke groaned.

"Okay, class, let's get it together," Iruka sighed. "And Kiba, bring me your camera this instant," Iruka waited for a second. "And don't take out the memory card, either."

Kiba let out a low curse as he re-inserted the memory card, and reluctantly brought it to Iruka. He stomped back to his desk, frustrated. How often did such good opportunities come around, anyways?

Iruka placed the camera into his desk drawer, locked it, and then turned to the class. "Now. Is everyone prepared for the final examination tomorrow? Shikamaru?" Shikamaru simply grunted an affirmative note. "Kiba?" He didn't get a response from Kiba, but Akamaru barked. "How about you, Naruto?"

"Please. I can make a _hundred_ clones," Naruto said with such perfect confidence that, for once, Iruka didn't know what to say.

But everyone else laughed.

"_Oi, kid, maybe this isn't the best time to boast—"_ the Kyuubi began to say, but Naruto ignored him.

"You'd better believe it! I _can_ make a hundred clones! I'll bet you a week's worth of ramen dinners!"

Iruka twitched a little. "Gambling isn't moralistic," Iruka admonished.

"Yeah, you know, one of the main vices ninjas should avoid is money," Sakura said. "That, and members of the opposite sex."

"The saying is 'women,' Sakura," Shikamaru mumbled, interested in the classroom conversation.

"What are you, a sexist?" Ino punched Shikamaru in the arm.

"Anyways," Naruto interjected, "I'm not betting for _money_, I'm betting for _food_. Or is food something a ninja should avoid, too?"

"Definitely not," Chouji said, his mouth full of chips.

"Exactly! So, how about it, Iruka?" Naruto asked, rocking forward in excitement.

"_Kid, I'm telling you, you don't want him to know that you know how to do a __**Kage**__ Bunshin – it's a hidden technique, you'll get –"_

"Fine, Naruto. I'll treat you to dinner for a week if you can make a hundred clones."

"Alright!" Naruto hopped onto the desk, this time standing. "Massive Kage Bunshin!" he yelled, and in a gigantic puff of smoke, copies of Naruto emerged all over the room.

"Naruto! Where'd you _learn_ this?" Iruka demanded, pushing past a few Naruto clones, shoving them to the ground so that they'd disperse.

"I… Well… I just picked it up somewhere…."

"We'll talk after class. Release the technique," Iruka was angry, and he was even angrier because he couldn't yell at Naruto right then. Iruka was intuitive to know that the Kyuubi had some part in his learning the technique, and Iruka didn't like Naruto being influenced by the demon, no matter how helpful it was to Naruto as a ninja.

There were a few whispers throughout the classroom – just as Naruto had learned of the Kyuubi early in his life, the other students had learned of it, too. Iruka, however, viciously punished any student who even brought it up, so most pretended like it didn't exist.

* * *

"Naruto, don't you get it? The Kyuubi is _dangerous_. And this technique…" Iruka sighed. He'd wanted to ask Naruto how he had the chakra capacity to conjure up so many clones, but he already knew. The Kyuubi massively increased his chakra, so much so that Naruto could do something that should be impossible for a twelve-year-old. "What else has he taught you?"

"Well, he got me to stop that Sexy no Jutsu stuff… I really wanted to turn all my clones into one of those when you told me to get rid of them, but I _didn't_ because the Kyuubi… threatened to stop teaching me if I ever did it again."

"Well, at least the Kyuubi has some sense," Iruka was still frustrated. "But I mean what other _techniques_. This is stuff that you shouldn't even be learning as a Genin, for the Hokage's sake!"

"… My element is wind, and he's been showing me—"

A knock sounded at the door, and before Iruka could even say, "Come in," a ninja with spiky silver hair, a mask, and a tilted forehead protector walked in.

"Yo, Iruka," he greeted happily. "And… Naruto, is it?"

Naruto glared forward, and asked, "Who's this geezer?"

"He's my age, Naruto, and he's Kakashi. One of the Jonin that is going to teach a group of three in your grade."

"Ah, I wanted to speak about that," Kakashi walked forward to stand beside Naruto. "I wanted to request a specific student…"

"You, too? Asuma already requested Shikamaru Nara, based on his IQ test," Iruka let out a sigh. "I can't make promises, because I already promised Asuma, but if the kid you want isn't Shikamaru or on his team…"

"Wait, you already know which students you're sorting? What if they don't pass the test?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Well, it's pretty obvious which ones will pass. Though you threw me for a loop, Naruto, I think I'm going to have to do some rearranging… But that's fine, since you make the number of graduates divisible by three. Looks like Kurenai will have to teach, after all."

"I… I passed?" Naruto was elated.

"How can I fail someone who made a hundred clones? Now, leave Kakashi and me so that we can talk," Iruka instructed.

"Do I get… the ramen, too?" Naruto's face was hopeful.

Iruka almost yelled at Naruto, but he decided against it. Why punish Naruto for doing good, even if he succeeded using methods that Iruka didn't agree with? It pained Iruka that Naruto was trusting the Kyuubi to this extent, but it was to be expected, since Jiraiya had released the seal that prevented the Kyuubi from talking to Naruto, at the behest of Sarutobi.

"Fine, Naruto. Meet me at Ichiraku's at…" he looked over at Kakashi, who gave the slightest of nods in response. "Well, at around six. Oh, and one last thing... Close your eyes," Iruka instructed.

Naruto gave him a confused look before doing so. Iruka pulled off his own forehead protector, and tied it around Naruto's head, pulling it tightly and then ruffling Naruto's hair. "Open your eyes."

Naruto realized what was on his forehead when he saw Iruka's missing, but he had to touch the protector to make sure it was there. "Really? You'd give me your…?" Naruto looked touched.

"Yeah, but don't wear it in front of the other students until after graduation," Iruka sighed. "I don't want you boasting or anything. Now, run along," Iruka motioned towards the door. Naruto hugged him tightly, and ran off.

Iruka let out a sigh as he watched Naruto run off. "You're good with him," Kakashi noted. "You'd have been a good father."

"Yes, well, _that's_ out the window," Iruka said, leaning forward to peck Kakashi on his masked lips. "Anyways," he said, leaning back in his chair, business-like again. "Who did you want to request?"

"Sasuke Uchiha," Kakashi said as he grabbed a hold of the chair Naruto had been sitting in, and flipping it around so that he could lean forward against the back of the chair.

"Sasuke…" Iruka thought for a second, and then began laughing. "Well. No, he's not on the team with Shikamaru. And since Naruto joined the graduating class, Chouji is off of Sasuke's team…"

"Thank goodness," Kakashi sighed.

"And Naruto is on it," Iruka finished.

Kakashi thought about it for a second. "Well," he finally began slowly, "Having him will be interesting, to say the least. And it's convenient, since I'm dating _you_. Who's the third?"

"Sakura Haruno," Iruka stated, after looking at his list. When Kakashi's face showed no signs of recognition, Iruka explained, "She's the most intelligent girl in the class, but she's one of the worst in hand-to-hand and shuriken training. And off the record… she's in love with Sasuke, and Naruto is in love with her."

"Well. She'll be interesting, too." Kakashi sighed. "But there is something more important we need to discuss."

"What's that?"

Kakashi let out a small sigh. "You're cheating on me with Naruto."

"That's ridiculous, Kakashi, and it's not even—" Iruka was starting to get _actually_ mad at Kakashi. Which was fun, but not what Kakashi really wanted.

Kakashi pulled his mask down, and leaned closer to Iruka, his head on his interlaced fingers. "Prove it, then," he said matter-of-factly.

Iruka blinked. "I can't believe you sometimes, you know that?" Iruka mumbled before doing what Kakashi _did_ want. He leaned forward to peck Kakashi on the lips again.

Kakashi knew a lot about an adversary's weak points. He knew how to trick and how to trap unsuspecting ninjas – but he knew even more about how to rile up and trick an unsuspecting Iruka.

When Iruka leaned forward, Kakashi quickly shot forward and wrapped a hand around Iruka's waist, the other hand braced against the desk for balance. Iruka's mouth instinctively opened to ask what Kakashi was doing – and then Kakashi took his chance.

He pressed their lips together, quickly darting his tongue into Iruka's mouth. Iruka struggled for a moment before melding into the kiss, his hands trailing up to Kakashi's spiking hair. They wrapped into the locks, pressing them closer together.

It was Kakashi who finally broke the kiss, pushing away from Iruka with the hand on the desk. He plopped down into the chair, a smirk on his face that he quickly covered up by replacing his mask.

"That was unfair play," Iruka muttered.

"Yes. Well. We can continue after your date with Naruto. I'll be at your place, raiding your pantry, since you're breaking _our_ date," Kakashi laughed lightly. "But I'll forgive you after tonight, if you work hard enough towards it." Kakashi stood to leave, feeling triumphant and as if he'd won a great battle.

"Ha ha," Iruka muttered back, a smirk on his face as well. "But there is one thing I need to say before I leave for ramen."

"Hm?" Kakashi had risen his finger to do his Sudden Disappearance Jutsu, but when Iruka began talking, he lowered his finger.

"If you tell Naruto we're dating, I'll make you into a liar," Iruka said, a smile on his face that chilled Kakashi to the bone. "Oh, that, and if you're late picking up your new students, I'm not speaking to you."

"Noted," Kakashi said, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

"Congratulations to everyone who has graduated… I'll list off your names, and tomorrow, you'll meet with your new teachers. It's been great teaching all of you," Iruka looked around at the class.

"Just list our teams already," Shikamaru said with the words of an enthusiast, but the attitude of a very bored genius.

"Team 7 – Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka read off the names, before moving onto the next group. When Sakura's name was announced, Naruto gave an elated cheer – but was quickly brought down again when Sasuke's name was announced.

"Take that, Ino!" Sakura yelled, jumping and pointing at Ino.

"I'm going to have to make Jonin quick," Sasuke mumbled to himself.

"Well… you'll have to make _Chunin_ first, you know," Iruka chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah, but at Chunin, I still have to deal with the two biggest idiots in the class," Sasuke glared over at Naruto and Sakura pointedly.

"Right. Moving on, Team 8…"

* * *

"Yo," Kakashi Hatake poked his head into the crowded room of students. "I'm here for… Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke?"

"Well," Sasuke said as he stood up, "At least our teacher can do things right. You two are just idiots," he said, walking forward.

"You know I could beat you within an inch of your life, right?" Naruto yelled, growling at Sasuke.

"Naruto! You idiot! Don't threaten Sasuke!" Sakura yelled as she punched Naruto in the head. Hard.

Kakashi sighed. This team was going to be a lot of work. Would they even pass _his_ graduation test? He watched them interact for a few more minutes, yelling at each other and scorning each other. Well, all except for Sakura towards Sasuke.

But now that Kakashi thought about it, with Naruto having the Kyuubi… And Iruka _had_ mentioned Naruto had been doing a lot of high-level training with him… Maybe there was hope for that idiot, after all. Sakura, though… Well, she might be alright, once she got out of her puberty stage.

Maybe.

**A/N: Okay! This chapter was a bit slow, but I'm doing a time jump to them going to the Mist next chapter. And now that I think about it, I haven't put a list of pairings up… This fanfic will have a lot of them. **

**Here goes (I'm trying to put it in order of most prominent to least prominent): NarutoGaara, KankarouShino, TemariShikamaru, KakashiIruka, SasukeKabuto, ZabukaHaku, one-sided InoSakura, KibaHinata, and eventually, InoChouji.**

**The most important ones are the first five, the other ones come in kind of later and randomly. Heck, KakashiIruka might not even be important, it just happens before SasukeKabuto. There might be more that I can't think of. xD;**


	3. Chapter 2

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Two – Even if Blood is Split_

"I think that those children might be the death of me," Kakashi was sprawled on Iruka's couch, wearing only his pants. For the longest time, being in such a state made Kakashi feel vulnerable and unarmed, but now, he'd at least let his guard down when he was visiting his boyfriend. He wasn't _happy_ about it – every five minutes, he was expecting that someone would come out from underneath a counter somewhere and attack him.

"They're not so bad. I know Sasuke and Naruto hate each other, and Sakura hates Naruto, but other than that, they all get along," Iruka handed Kakashi a cup of hot tea as he plopped down on the couch.

"No sake?" Kakashi asked with a small look. Iruka responded with a disapproving look, and Kakashi sipped at the tea tentatively. "At any rate, I haven't told you the worst part of it."

"The worst?"

"Yeah. We're going to the Mist tomorrow… C-ranked mission."

"… But… you're team has only done what, fourteen D-ranked missions?" Iruka was obviously in shock.

"Yes, well, Sarutobi wasn't going to waste the two Genin with the most potential forever," Kakashi said. "And remember… they're not your students anymore. Sure, Naruto is always going to be like your son, but before anything else…"

"Yeah, I know," Iruka cut Kakashi off quickly, knowing what he was going to say, but not wanting to hear him say it. "I know," he said again, this time with more conviction. "But, even so, your team's teamwork still needs work, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, well, the kind of work they need isn't going to be accomplished by chasing cats and delivering ramen."

* * *

The hulking assassin was bent over his victim, drinking deeply from the smaller boy's neck. The assassin's skin was a dull grey, colored as such due to living a place that so rarely got sunlight. The boy was lithe and pale, but beautiful to look at. In the man's arms, he felt fragile, but he knew better about the boy – the boy was an assassin just as he was, a ninja – a tool.

The man pulled away, wiping at the blood around his mouth before pulling his mask back up. He placed a hand on the boy's wound, healing it with his blood magic.

"Did you get enough to eat, Zabuza?" the boy murmured, always caring for him, even when he was on the verge of passing out due to the blood loss.

"It never feels like enough," Zabuza growled in response, standing quickly. "it's harder and harder to stop, you know."

"Well… if you'd just turn me, it would—"

"You know I'm not going to do that," Zabuza cut in with a growl. "You're useful to me as a human, Haku, and only as a human."

"… Of course."

"I'll be back with your dinner. Just take a nap or something," Zabuza walked off, leaving Haku alone in their small apartment that they shared. Haku rolled over in their bed, waited for a minute or so, and then pulled a pill from the nightstand beside him. Zabuza didn't know, but Haku had ways of making money on his own – namely harvesting herbs and then selling them. And Haku wasn't sure if Zabuza approved of food pills or not, but they were what kept Haku from getting restless.

He gulped the pill down before pulling his clothes on. They were rather feminine clothes, and when he donned them, only Zabuza knew that Haku was a boy, and not a girl. That suited Haku just as well, for no one would ever suspect the skills that Haku had from a woman. He pulled his hair back into a ponytail, and placed an ANBU mask inside the folds of his robe – just in case.

* * *

Zabuza still had the gnawing feeling of hunger in the pit of his stomach. In fact, it actually pained him not to finish drinking from Haku – he was so used to gorging himself at least twice a day that, while drink a good two-thirds of Haku's blood tided him over, not drinking anymore than that made him feel starved.

He walked through the city, looking for someone low-key, maybe an orphan or an outsider, something that he could completely drain without violating the contract he had with… who was it again? Some corporate big-wig that liked to think that he could control vampires. Well, Haku had already predicted the man's death, and it would indeed be the work of Zabuza. And that was one small thing that Zabuza could take solace in.

What was his current 'assignment?' Keep Konoha ninjas from protecting the old man who was overseeing some bridge? Well, that could be fun – they didn't say that he couldn't maim or kill the Konoha ninjas.

He walked through the city, now intent on finding these enemy ninjas. He saw a lot of kids no one would miss – they were the easiest targets that he could have. But they didn't put up enough of a fight to emotionally satisfy the Demon known as Zabuza – they simply filled his stomach. And, anyways, Haku was beginning to make him feel guilty for eating so many orphans…

* * *

"I can't believe that _this_ is what I spent my whole paycheck on," Tazuna grumbled. "Three brats and a half-blind old geezer."

"Hey, we saved your ass from those three Mist ninjas, didn't we?"

"Speaking of…" Kakashi looked over to the side and sighed. It had been bothering him for quite a while – Tazuna shouldn't be targeted by _any_ ninjas. Bandits, maybe, but if actual ninjas were trying to kill him, he had to be tricking them in some way or another. "Why were those ninjas after you? That wasn't included in the mission description."

Sakura went into fact-spouting mode. "Yes. Rank C-level missions should be escorting someone of a low rank or delivering documents. The persons being escorted shouldn't be of a high-enough rank to be actually targeted by anyone. Once you're protecting a targeted person, the rank goes up to B, A, or even S, depending on the person and who is targeting the person."

"Yes, exactly," Kakashi sighed. "So, tell us about yourself. And make it quick… it won't be much longer until the sun sets." The sun was just barely above the horizon, the sky already dark purple in areas. Sunsets were beautiful when you were in your own village – in a foreign area on a mission, the darkness was the scariest possible situation.

* * *

Zabuza rushed through the Mist, no longer caring to drink an orphan or a homeless person – he just wanted to drink a Konoha ninja; to have a ninja fight for his or her life, ultimately lose, and then be absorbed into Zabuza.

Finally, he found them, on the outskirts of the Mist. They were all listening to some older man speak – was that the bridge builder, Tazuna? Well, he might as well do some work while he was out…

It appeared that the leader of the ninja group had yet to notice him – things were easier that way, but not as much fun. Zabuza leapt with expert silence into the tree above the group, and from there, released a blood magic that would knock out the younger ninjas easily, but only slightly impair the two adults.

"Kakashi-sen…!" Naruto cried out.

"Ch…" Sasuke murmured as he fell asleep.

"Release…" Sakura's hand had formed the seal to dispel a genjutsu, as she couldn't tell the difference between vampire jutsu and illusionary techniques.

'Well, one had a pretty good response…' Kakashi thought to himself. "You look familiar… I believe I've seen you in my Bingo Book. Zabuza, the Vampire of Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, if I'm not mistaken?"

"It is rare that I am recognized," Zabuza said, a smirk hidden underneath the cloth bandages that wrapped his jaw. "And even rarer that someone refers to me as one of the Seven… I quit being a renegade and a swordsman, long before your time. You remind me of someone I killed once… The White Flash, of Konoha? He had a son?"

"He didn't die – he was damn close to death, but not close enough to stop him from bringing me into this world. He's dead now, though."

"Well. I'll have to finish the job I should have finished long ago, shouldn't I?" Zabuza raised his hands in a seal that Kakashi was unfamiliar with. His left hand was pointed in an L-shape, the long time of the L pointed to Zabuza's right. The right hand was wrapped around his left hand, and that appeared to be the only seal that he was going to use. "I'll leave your… minions?"

"Students," Kakashi corrected. "And I'm not going to take your word for your generosity – I'll protect them myself." As Kakashi spoke, stalling the first attack, he was going over tactics in his head. If Zabuza was going to use blood jutsu… then there was no way Kakashi could use the Copying technique. Even so, he exposed his right eye, in the hopes that it would help anyways – and because he could think of no other conceivable advantage he could have.

* * *

"Here you go," Haku said cheerfully, handing the huge basket of herbs and wild roots to the blacksmith. He took his usual extra set of black-stained, long needles from the man and tucked them away in his kimono. In times of economical downturn, currency had little value among the common people – it was all about barter, trading one thing someone else desperately needed for something you desperately needed.

Haku closed his eyes, searching out Zabuza's chakra. After spending the past decade or so with the man, Haku had gained the ability of finding Zabuza, or at least being able to sense a vague direction of where he was. However, the same did not work in reverse – Zabuza had drunk so much of Haku's blood in the past decade that he couldn't sense Haku, as Haku's chakra was basically a part of himself as well. It was like having interfering signals on the same radio wave… Zabuza couldn't separate the feeling of his own chakra from the feeling of Haku's.

All of Haku's business was done, so… he'd check up on Zabuza. He'd done it so often that he felt as if it were a part of his daily schedule. Since Zabuza couldn't sense him, he knew that he could easily find him, watch him for a while, and then leave ahead of the man, arriving home just slightly earlier than Zabuza.

Sometimes, however, Haku deeply regretted spying on the man. When Haku was just ten, he saw Zabuza draining a young girl dry. Haku's young heart couldn't bear the thought of Zabuza drinking until someone else died, so in hysterics, Haku offered himself as a willing substitute. Now, the thought of someone dying so that Zabuza could live wasn't daunting at all… it was just the circle of life, and all of that. But Haku never stopped offering his blood. At this point, Haku just wanted to be as useful to Zabuza as possible – even if it meant spilling blood.

He inwardly sighed. So close to the city outskirts… possibly not even in the city… He was draining another victim. Haku immediately thought about just going home, but he knew that he wouldn't – he always felt reassured when he saw Zabuza during one of his excursions, even if it meant having to see him feed from another.

* * *

Kakashi fought to the best of his abilities, but even so, after just ten minutes of fighting, he'd used up all of his resources. He'd used Chidori a good four times, and his arm was shaking out of pure shock… he'd never used the Chidori so many times in a row, in such a short amount of time. He wouldn't call on his dogs, since he knew he would basically be slaughtering them for no reason. His chakra reserves were almost gone, and he was feeling faint…

"You are a good fighter… for a human," Zabuza growled out, before pulling at his mask.

'Now's my chance!' Kakashi thought, charging up the Chidori one last time. He felt that, even if he could never use that arm again, it would be worth it… so long as he could save his Genin group… especially Naruto. Iruka… if Iruka lost both himself and Naruto at the same time…

He screamed as the chakra flowed to his arm, gripping it tightly to force himself forward through the pain. His hand glowed electric blue, and he heard the crackling of electricity. He'd begun to charge forward, when the Chidori seemed to glow brighter, and then disappear altogether, like a light bulb that had sparked out of its existence.

He fell to his knees. "You're finished," Zabuza said, a smirk on his face. He sauntered up to Kakashi, roughly grabbing at the man's spiky, silver hair. "I'll leave your students be – my job was just to kill that bridge-builder."

"I can't take your word about my students," Kakashi choked out, his throat scratching and closing up. He'd never see Konoha again…

"No, you can't… but why would I lie? "

"As my dying wish… could you take this," Kakashi pulled out an envelope marked 'To Naruto,' from his jacket pocket. "And put it on the blond kid's lap?"

Zabuza pulled the envelope from the man's hands, looked at it briefly, and laughed. "Sentimental. In how many situations did you think you'd be able to give this to him, anyways?" Even so, he threw the letter roughly in Naruto's direction, the letter landing just beside the sleeping ninja. "Seems the bridge-builder has run off… Looks like there will be a chase after my meal."

Zabuza pulled Kakashi roughly up by his hair, and then wrapped his arms around Kakashi. Kakashi didn't have the strength to stand on his own, so he fell against Zabuza's body. Zabuza pulled Kakashi's mask down, exposing the part of his face that he'd only allowed Iruka to see since… well, he couldn't remember the last time he'd let someone see his face.

Zabuza pulled the sleeveless spandex undershirt and his jacket roughly to the right, exposing an entire shoulder and the right side of his neck. All Kakashi could do was slump against the larger man, eyes half lidded with fatigue. Even when Zabuza's teeth sunk into Kakashi's skin, the most enthusiastic thing Kakashi could do was squirm slightly and let out a murmur of pain. He felt like he had already been dying…

* * *

Haku began sprinting forward, wanting to see him before he made his return trip. He felt Zabuza's chakra residue grow stronger and stronger, until it was obvious that the man wasn't just feeding… he was fighting, too.

Haku doubted he would be needed, but he prepared himself for a fight anyways. Just as he'd been taught to since he was young.

He was getting to the part of the city highly dominated by trees, so he jumped into the brush of the shortest tree he could find, jumping from tree branch to tree branch, looking for Zabuza. He wasn't fighting anymore; the chakra had changed – now he was feeding.

After a few minutes of travel, he found the epicenter of chakra. He looked through the leaves, to see Zabuza holding Kakashi. From Haku's perspective, the eyes that were half-lidded due to fatigue seemed as if they were half-lidded due to pleasure.

Haku's hand flew up to touch the bite mark on his neck. True, Zabuza could make feedings pleasurable for the victim… with a small amount of blood jutsu, it was easily done. But Zabuza didn't do that for _anyone_, except… Haku. He was supposed to be the only one to benefit from Zabuza's jutsu, the only one to be exempt from the pain, since he'd given his blood willingly.

Zabuza and he… well, they lived together, and certainly, sometimes the feedings gave way into more… more sensual activities, but it wasn't as if they had an actual relationship. _He'd_ certainly never slept with another person, but Zabuza had no such restraints.

And yet, Haku was bothered by the sight of the silver-haired ninja enjoying the feeding. Haku could stay and watch to confirm what he was thinking… but somehow, the thought of continuing to watch the scandal unfold in front of him seemed too painful, too… disillusioning.

He stepped backwards slightly, nearly losing his balance. He grabbed a branch to keep himself from falling, and the branch rustled a lot of leaves… he was almost certain that Zabuza wouldn't hear, as he was engaged in bloodlust at the moment, but it still perturbed him. Haku turned and ran back towards the village.

* * *

Zabuza was deeply locked in his bloodlust, drinking slowly from the weak ninja. He was greatly enjoying every gulp, leisurely taking sip by sip from Kakashi, gripping the man's body closer and closer to himself… _That_ was the way to drink blood. If you had to drink hurriedly, you were hungrier faster, and felt less satisfaction. Certainly, with Haku, he could take his time, but he couldn't typically take his time when drinking from a different ninja.

He felt so… he wasn't sure what words to use, but when he was drinking blood, he felt super-human, and as if he were human again all at the same time. He felt like he was bringing himself closer to something that he knew he could never achieve – Heaven.

Usually, nothing could disturb him in such a state. He was still fully conscious of his surroundings, but it was rare that his mind registered them. As he drank from Kakashi, however, he felt a very familiar presence… probably just the residue of his own chakra. It typically was very strong when he'd been fighting, anyways.

And then he heard rustling from the area where he felt his own chakra residues, and knew automatically that it was not his own chakra he was sensing, but Haku's.

He pulled away from the man, releasing his grip on the ninja and allowing him to fall flat on his chest, unmasked face pressed to the dirt. "Haku!" Zabuza yelled angrily. What was he doing traipsing around when he still needed to rest?

He felt the chakra disappear rapidly – Haku was obviously sprinting. And, sad to say, even with his vampiric powers, he couldn't catch up to a sprinting Haku, and he didn't know anyone who could.

Zabuza looked down at the ninja like a small child who had just dropped a cup full of juice. "Well," he kicked in Kakashi's direction, "I think the mood has been ruined," he murmured as he rewrapped his mask around his face, smearing blood on the clean underside of the cloth.

'Back to business,' he thought, trying to sense Tazuna, the bridge-builder. He could still smell the man… he headed southwest, the complete opposite direction from Haku. It figured. Zabuza took off towards the bridge-builder, rushing forward to finish his work so that he could meet up with Haku sooner.

And, oh yeah… he still needed to bring the boy dinner.

* * *

Haku arrived home, slamming the door behind him, chest pounding. He could scarcely breathe; he had sprinted home with as much speed as he could muster, never stopping for breath or a rest. He collapsed on the bed, and began stripping clothes off of himself. When Zabuza got home, he had to appear as if he'd been in bed the entire time, waiting for Zabuza to come home with dinner.

His stomach growled as soon as he thought the word; Zabuza's dinners were scarcely very tasty, but they were typically thoughtful, as if he knew what Haku's body needed. Haku had always wondered if he could taste was Haku's body needed because of his blood…

He finished pulling off his robes and the pants he wore under them. The last thing he did was to take his hair down and kick all of his clothes in their usual position. He crawled under the covers, suddenly exhausted. He turned on his side, away from the door. As he fell asleep, he realized something very disturbing – he was crying. But he couldn't find the energy to wipe away the tears.\

**A/N: Sorry about the massively long wait. I lost internet for a bit. But I'll be updating REALLY regularly, because I have up to chapter ten written already, and up to Chapter 17 pre-planned at the very least. ;D Please review!  
**


	4. Chapter 3

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Three – Of Mist Vampires That Won't Be Missed_

Team 7 spent nearly an hour, searching for someone who would house four Konoha ninjas, even without food. However, everyone they asked refused, even after they noticed the state Kakashi was in. Naruto was beginning to get frustrated; Sasuke looked as if he would kill the next person to refuse them; and Sakura, having used a massive amount of chakra healing Kakashi earlier, was exhausted and ready to pass out.

Finally, as the sun was rising, they came upon a house with a young boy sitting outside. Kakashi's condition was failing, and Naruto and Sasuke were ready to pass out after having carried their teacher for a good four hours around the village, they came upon a house with a small boy in overalls, sitting outside by himself.

"Excuse me, little boy, but is your mother home?" Sakura asked, leaning in forward and smiling brightly at the boy.

The boy glared off to the side. "Are you from Konoha?" he asked in a grumbling voice.

"Yeah, we're ninjas!" Naruto cried out. If his hands weren't occupied with holding Kakashi up, he would have also pointed at or adjusted his headband.

"Ninjas. My ass," the boy stood. "Did you escort a man here?"

Naruto looked at both Sakura and Sasuke. It all dawned on them at the same instance – the boy was somehow related to the man, Tazuna, that they'd been hired to protect.

"Well…" Sakura looked down, no longer able to look the boy in the eyes.

"Yeah, our mission was to escort a man by the name of Tazuna to this village. However, as we entered the village, we were attacked… We were knocked out, and we have no idea what happened to the man," Sasuke took on the job of explaining the situation to the boy, his face never changing its expression.

Tears welled up in the boy's eyes, and it looked as if he would run away. Before he could, however, the door opened, revealing a woman who looked both old and similar enough to the boy that they knew she was his mother. "Inari, what's going on here?" she asked, looking at the four Konoha ninjas suspiciously.

"They… they were the guys that…" Inari began to bawl, and he dashed forward, past his mother.

"You were Tazuna's escorts, weren't you?" the woman's face was downcast – she already had inferred what had happened, and accepted the situation. "You look… like you need a place to stay. Come in."

"Are… are you sure?" Sakura was nervous and uneasy. Why would the relative of the man they couldn't protect offer them hospitality?

"Yes, I'm sure. You all look like you… you tried your best for my father. And knowing how skittish the villagers are, you're not likely to find someone else who will help you. And… your captain seems as if he will die if he doesn't lay down."

"Thank you," Sakura said with a deep boy. Naruto followed suit by mumbling his thanks, and Sasuke nodded his gratitude as he walked by, staggering under the weight of Kakashi.

* * *

Zabuza had managed to easily track and kill the bridge-builder, Tazuna, and was waiting for further instructions from the man who had hired him. He was actually thinking of just killing his 'boss,' just for the hell of it…

But then again, a lot of his irritation had to do with his situation with Haku. Haku didn't know that Zabuza had realized that Haku had watched him with Kakashi, and he hadn't felt the need to inform him. But he could tell that Haku was upset over the matter; the boy was talking less frequently, and had completely stopped eating the food that Zabuza was bringing him.

In response to Haku's actions, Zabuza began his training again, something he had put off teaching him for a long time due to time constraints: swords. Haku was amazing with needles, but he was a horrible sword-user. On one level, Zabuza was doing it to make Haku happier; but underlying that main reason was an attempt to make Haku eat more. He was trying to make amends, without letting Haku know it was a repentance; that, and he still hadn't admitted to himself that there were actual feelings behind any of his actions, rather than simply putting his 'captive' in good spirits.

Zabuza had even stopped relying on Haku for blood, simply taking all of his sustenance from villagers and other such extras. On Haku's part, he wasn't starving himself – he was getting his own food while Zabuza was out getting his. Other than Haku's training with Zabuza, he had become totally dependent.

And for some reason, he left him with a deeply empty feeling.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had given Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura multiple, simple training exercises. Sakura did the two chakra control exercises easily enough – she mastered walking up a tree and walking on water with perfect ease. When she finished those, she began helping Tazuna's family with their work, which helped them earn the extra food to feed the Konoha ninjas.

Sasuke and Naruto, however, spent the next two weeks of Kakashi's recovery running up trees, marking their highest point, and then starting over. Due to all of the extra training Sasuke had pushed himself through, and Naruto's Kyuubi advantage, they finished the training much more quickly than Kakashi had expected. So, for the next few days, they worked on walking on water, spending hours trying to mold their chakra so that they could balance better on the water's surface.

While they had finished the first exercise at around the same time, both reaching the top of the tree practically simultaneously, the second exercise had a clear winner – Naruto had managed to walk across the lake long before Sasuke could get halfway across, and he did it without stumbling once.

"Haha! Take that, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto called out from across the lake.

"Ch," Sasuke growled as he continued to cross the lake, still attempting the exercise even though Naruto had bested him. What else was he supposed to do? Sulk and stalk off? While he was persevering on the outside, however, he was fuming on this inside; it was Sasuke that was supposed to be the genius, not Naruto. And how was Naruto making such phenomenal progress, anyways? Naruto had never been good at chakra control, and yet, here he was, doing such a complicated introductory lesson with absolute ease.

Sasuke was beginning to think that Naruto was much stronger than him. He'd seen the Kage Bunshin before… he was beginning to see Naruto's potential for growth… the only thing Sasuke might have over him was composure. And if you much stronger than your opponent, composure didn't matter much at all.

Sasuke had to get stronger.

* * *

"Haku," Zabuza growled out as they walked through the village's mediocre market. Zabuza had taken to going food shopping with Haku, mostly because he was still attempting to make amends. It had now been around two weeks since the Kakashi incident, and Zabuza was beginning to feel as if the matter needed to be addressed.

"Yes, Zabuza?" Haku was still perfectly polite around the older man; after all, he didn't want Zabuza to dispose of him as a tool.

"Two weeks ago, you saw me feed," Zabuza accused.

"I have seen you feed on others many times. Two weeks ago was no different."

"You… have?" Zabuza was slightly impressed. He'd never noticed Haku before… so what had made the last time so different? "Well. You seemed upset afterwards. Such an emotional response is not good for a tool."

"I am not upset. You are a vampire, and as such, you must feed. I understand that one feeding isn't enough to satisfy your appetite… I understand that I'm more like an appetizer than anything else."

"As your master, I demand to know what is bothering you, so that my tool can run at his maximum efficiency. Otherwise, you may as well just become just another orphan again."

"… he wasn't in pain," Haku mumbled. "You go out of your way to make sure I don't feel pain when you feed from me. But he didn't appear to be in any pain, either."

"Trust me, he was in pain. I'd just fought with him before and exhausted him… he was practically asleep as I fed."

Haku didn't know how to respond. He believed Zabuza – that made more sense than Zabuza wasting his blood magic on some random ninja. But one other thing didn't make any sense. "So, why did you stop feeding from me? And start training me all of a sudden?"

"I thought you were mentally stressed over something. After all, you were acting strangely, and you allowed yourself to be heard. I thought you were being over-taxed," Zabuza responded smoothly. It wasn't the actual reason, but either way, it made Haku feel a little better.

"Well. I'm _not_ being 'over-taxed,' so you can go back to feeding on me whenever you please."

Zabuza pulled his mask down and grabbed Haku by the shoulders roughly. He pulled Haku's shirt to the side as much as he could, and quickly clamped down on the boy's neck. Everyone in the market stopped, stared, and then either commented rudely or rushed off.

Intense pain flooded though Haku's neck – it was still daytime, and Zabuza couldn't numb the pain with his jutsu. Zabuza pulled back slightly from the bite, just quickly enough to say, "Just bear with it…" before he continued to drink. He drank so much from Haku that the boy was almost certain that he would die; he'd often felt as if he would pass out after being drunken from, but he rarely felt as if the loss of blood was coma inducing. He began to slump against Zabuza's grip, quickly heading closer and closer to death.

Zabuza, after drinking as much as he could from the boy, slung him up into his arms, and rushed back to his apartment, carrying the boy bridal style.

He had something to do.

* * *

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura left the woman's household after thanking her profusely. The boy Inari didn't see them off, but instead spent the entire time sulking. Naruto and Sasuke had been training for the entirety of the two weeks, so they hadn't had any time with the boy at all. Sakura, however, had gotten quite close to Inari, as she had helped him and his mother with their workload. Inari was currently sulking because he didn't want to see Sakura leave.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Kakashi said as he left.

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" the woman asked concernedly.

"I'm well enough to go home. Don't worry about me – worse could happen. And, anyways, if I don't get home soon, my," he paused slightly. He wasn't sure he wanted his students to know that he was gay…. Just yet. "My girlfriend will kill me," he said with a laugh.

"You have a girlfriend?" all three of his students looked at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Ch, I think he's lying. No girl could stand such a pervert," Naruto mumbled.

"Or his lack of punctuality," Sasuke added.

"Or his aloof personality," Sakura added.

"_Well. They're right on all accounts…"_ Kakashi thought to himself with a smirk before responding to his students that they'd be surprised by what people put up with.

* * *

Zabuza had gotten back to their apartment in record time. Haku was slowly dying… in fact, the boy was beginning to panic. He had yet to find out what Zabuza was planning.

Zabuza pulled out a kunai, and sliced a huge cut into his neck. "Your turn," he muttered, holding the boy close to his body so that he could drink. Haku looked up at him in shock at first, before slowly drawing blood from the man's neck. He had to be supported so that he didn't slump back, and it was hard to stay awake for Haku during the first half of the feeding – but as he took more and more blood, he felt more and more energized. More and more alive.

"You're turning seventeen soon, aren't you?" Zabuza asked. Haku nodded as he drank, unable to stop. "When someone becomes an adult, they are unable to be turned. Their bodies can't handle it anymore. You only had another year or so. Stop drinking," Zabuza instructed, pulling the boy away. He had to hand it to the boy – when he first drank from a vampire, he couldn't stop. Haku had much more self-control than he did.

"Why… why now?" Haku asked. "All of a sudden."

"… I heard the villagers talking. They want me dead for killing Tazuna, and that bastard isn't backing me anymore. We have to leave as soon as we can."

"I… don't think I can…" Haku's heart was stopping. He felt like he was having a heart attack; his chest was seizing up in pain, and he couldn't breathe.

"You're dying," Zabuza stated simply. "It happens, but don't worry; my blood will bring you back to life." He picked Haku up again, and asked, "Was there anything you needed?"

"… No…" Haku said. He automatically thought of his food pills, but, hell, if he was a vampire, he wouldn't need them anymore. "Let's… go…"

Haku had lived in that village all of his life. He'd seen his parents die there, and he'd been raised there. He'd become Zabuza's tool there, and everything that Haku had ever been was in the Village Hidden in the Mist.

He wouldn't miss it at all.

* * *

They were on their way out of the village, when they were intercepted by a group of thugs and an older, short man in what could only be described as an outfit only a yakuza boss would wear. The man was Gato, the person who single-handedly controlled Mizugakure and kept them in poverty.

"Care to have a chat before you leave?" Gato asked with a smirk. The thugs, carrying assorted weapons, held them up even more menacingly. They were all ugly, covered in bulging muscles and scars. They all had very little fighting ability compared to the small team of ninjas, but what they did have was a lot of people.

"Not particularly," Kakashi responded, his face a façade of pleasantry. He was hoping that the Gato would let the matter, whatever the matter was, simply drop… but that didn't seem to be the case.

"I hear you survived fighting Zabuza. He's been plaguing my city for, what, how long now? A good decade, at the very least? Have you noticed the lack of _people_? Whose fault do you presume that to be?"

"Probably the person who is allowing the citizens to be so impoverished that they can't afford a meal," Sasuke scoffed.

"Now, Sasuke," Kakashi half-admonished. He was only doing it for appearances, however; he had been thinking the same thing that Sasuke had.

"Well. You're hired men, kind of like my employees here. How much would it cost for you four to handle our little vampire infestation?"

"Well. If you went through the proper channels and paid our Hokage for a mission, we would personally take the mission if we were assigned to it."

"And, anyway, we ninjas are much different than your thugs. We would never work for a creep like you," Naruto growled out.

"Oh. It's a shame to hear that. Maybe my men can change your mind…" Gato snapped. A few of the men lunged forward towards the group of ninja. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke lunged forward at the same instant, all handling the thugs with simple taijutsu. Sakura stood defensively with a kunai out, ready to defend herself should one get too close to her.

They were still fighting when a large, grey-shaped blur moved past them. Everyone paused, staring after the person they could only assume to be Zabuza.

"Are you sure that you won't reconsider? I can offer you a reward much greater than anything you've ever been made for a mission."

"We'll pass."

"Your loss. Men, after that man!" All of his men gave each other sheepish looks, before they all reminded themselves how much cash they would get if they managed to live through the attack. They all sprung forward after the vampire, rushing off to their deaths.

* * *

When they arrived back in Konoha, Iruka was practically waiting at the gates. Apparently, he checked often to see whether or not Team Seven had arrived home yet, and then would move onto his other duties. When he saw that they were alive and well, he immediately ran to Naruto, and hugged him as if he hadn't seen the boy in a year.

"Oh, god, they said you guys might be dead!" Iruka exclaimed, hugging Naruto tighter.

"Yeah, well, we're not dead, but we failed our mission…" Naruto mumbled.

"I told Sarutobi you weren't ready for a D-rank mission, anyways," Iruka muttered pulling back. "I'm just glad you're alive. And unharmed."

"Well, it wasn't exactly a D-rank mission, anyways. There was a vampire involved, and that typically makes it at least B-rank… It shouldn't go against their records, since the client lied to us."

"Oh," Iruka seemed to pause long enough to process the information, before yelling out, "There was a vampire?"

"Yeah," Kakashi sighed. "I have to go to the Hokage's office to give him an official report. Later," Kakashi said, walking off. However, the walk was very deliberate, and he could have much more easily traveled by teleportation. He was hoping Iruka would follow him.

"Naruto, meet me at noon at Ichiraku's," Iruka ruffled Naruto's hair. "You can tell me all about your first mission. Right now, I have to turn in some documents to the Hokage, anyways." Iruka jogged to catch up to Kakashi.

"So. How are you?" Iruka asked, concernedly. He couldn't hug him or anything like that in public, but he had greatly missed the silver-haired ninja. Somehow, Kakashi made his daily life more… manageable. He was going to hate it when Kakashi began his ANBU career again in a few years, when his Genin team all became Chunin. It meant that Kakashi would be at the village less.

"I got bitten by the vampire, but Sakura healed me. Thank goodness she signed up for the healing courses, huh?"

"How do you feel?"

"Tired. Very tired. But even so, I have to do all of this stuff…" Kakashi sighed. "When did being a ninja start becoming so paperwork-heavy?"

"Probably when you became a Chunin," Iruka said with a laugh, holding up his own stack of papers, which weren't just an excuse to walk Kakashi to the Hokage's office – he really _did_ have paperwork to turn in.

"I'm so exhausted… are your classes over?"

"Yes…" Iruka was wary. Nothing good came of people asking him if his classes were over for the day. "Why?"

"Your apartment is closer to the Hokage's office than mine… I wanted to take a nap…"

"Oh. A nap? Really?"

"Yes, of course. Just a nap," Kakashi said, his façade of pleasantry back up. "But you'd have to let me into your apartment, you know."

"Oh, really? The great ninja Kakashi can't even get into a lowly Chunin's apartment without a key?"

"But it's rude to just break in…" Kakashi smirked under the mask. He knew that Iruka understood that Kakashi did really want a nap… after some other activities. It was funny how Kakashi had been practically celibate for the past five years, but as soon as he started dating Iruka, all he could think about was sex.

"Anyways, how was Naruto on his first mission?"

"He was… unexpectedly talented, believe it or not. We had a good bit of downtime after the attack, because I had to recuperate enough to be in travelling condition. He actually mastered the training exercises I gave the two boys faster than Sasuke did."

"Really?" Iruka seemed pleased. "What exercises?"

"The tree-walking and the water-walking."

"He… he did those? Easily?" Kakashi responded that he had, and Iruka began to worry. How could Naruto, who could barely do anything to control _anything_, much less his chakra, master such an exercise so quickly?

He was beginning to think that Sarutobi ordering Jiraiya to weaken the seal on the Kyuubi was a mistake. After all, if Naruto was growing at an outrageous pace, didn't that mean that the Kyuubi was the only thing that could influence such growth? It was a disturbing thought, but there was nothing he could do.

He was worried, but suddenly he felt a hand squeeze his own, gone just as suddenly as it had come. Kakashi was still staring forward, but Iruka felt calmed somehow. Kakashi was probably bothered for the same reason that he was.

* * *

They didn't find out until nearly a month later what happened that day. Instead, the four of them simply travelled home, unperturbed by the fact that a rogue vampire was roaming around. It hadn't been their mission to attack the vampire; no, they had failed in their mission to protect Tazuna.

What happened that day was a massacre. Apparently, Zabuza had turned the boy, Haku, into a vampire as well. Zabuza fought the people off with all of his might, but was slowly being overrun by their sheer number of thugs. The sun had been up, so Zabuza had had to rely on his physical strength, and only that.

Zabuza had nearly lost when Haku's change was completed, and while his vampiric powers didn't awake, he had been fighting well as a human for the past decade. So when Haku became a fighting force, they easily killed every one of the thugs, as well as Gato.

The two vampires escaped Mizugakure, leaving the city in the hands of its inhabitants. The Village Hidden in the Mist was slowly growing, and all of the villagers had begun to build the bridge again, now with no interference from any antagonists such as Gato, who had impoverished them and held them back, and vampires, who had depleted their population.

Once the bridge was finished, the village would grow at an extremely fast pace, and would grow back into a decently-sized ninja producing force. Suna might even start recognizing it again as one of its major territories, rather than just as a small town to be noted only when need be.

No reports had been given on the subject of Haku and Zabuza sightings – apparently, they were deep in hiding. It couldn't even be confirmed whether or not they were alive, but either way, both of their profiles were now in the Bingo book, each listed as vampires who needed to be hunted down.

And so, two years passed, and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura grew. Sakura began taking her training more seriously, now that she'd had a look at what a real ninja life was like. Naruto began learning more jutsu from the Kyuubi, and even gained Jiraiya as a teacher, who taught him more techniques and jutsu, including the Rasengan. Sasuke, meanwhile, became Kakashi's personal pupil, learning electrical-based jutsu while studying more fire-based jutsu in his own time.

And two years later, Tsunade, the Hokage who took over after Sarutobi mysteriously died one night in his house, received an important notice from Suna – a notice that would change the course of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's lives forever.

**A/N: Finally past basically rewriting the first twenty episodes. I dislike doing that, but it was a _little_ different, so… Anyways, the next chapter is the explanation of a time-skip, but it's so short that I'm updating it with the chapter _after_ that, too, and that's where things get interesting. :D Please review! 3  
**


	5. Chapter 4

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Four – Interlude; A Two-Year Time Skip_

Naruto Uzumaki had never felt more acknowledged in his life. No one was looking down on him for his wayward younger years, and he was actually feeling more mature than a lot of the people his age acted. All of his good fortune had all started at the Chunin exams around five months ago, where he proved his worth.

He proved his worth to Sakura and Sasuke by passing the first part of the exam, something they wouldn't have expected of him in a million years. He managed to singlehandedly lose their first Earth scroll in the second exam, and then gain back both of the scrolls they did need. In the final part of the exam, he dealt a huge blow to Neji Hyuuga's pride by defeating him easily, and then rose through the ranks to beat the strategic genius Shikamaru Nara, even with his vastly inferior intelligence. He faced off with Sasuke Uchiha in the final round, which was (unfairly, in both of their opinions) pronounced a tie.

While it seemed as if Naruto was completely on par with Sasuke, there were two points that Sasuke constantly brought up that drove into Naruto's pride. For one thing, Sasuke had managed to kill a vampire on a mission, even if it had been somewhat of a fluke. For another thing, Sasuke had discovered that Naruto held the Kyuubi, and probably wouldn't have attained such heights without the demon inside of him.

So, while it seemed to all as if their childhood rivalry was coming to a close, it was burning with a fiery rage that neither of them had felt before. Combined with teenage hormones, it led to blows nearly being landed each time they met – and almost always led to fights during missions in which they were teamed with one another.

As for the third member of their team of Genin, Sakura was pressing forward as fast as she could with her abilities. Kakashi had signed her up to take more and more healing classes, and she was eventually let on as an apprentice to Tsunade, the great medical ninja of Konoha. Sakura was learning how to use chakra to enhance her strength and to use as a blade, something Tsunade had wanted her to learn after seeing the fighting style of the mysterious Kabuto, a subordinate of Orochimaru, the most infamous of Konoha's current missing-nin.

She, after watching Sasuke grow farther and farther from her, finally realized that the only way to get closer to him was to get stronger. She began de-feminizing herself, keeping her hair cut short and trading her pink clothes for darker hues, which in turn, made her appear to be a more capable ninja. Though she was still hoping to romance the last available Uchiha, she had given it up to being a passive attack.

Once she'd done that, she actually found a best friend in her rival for Sasuke's attentions, Ino Yamanaka. They'd been friends when they were younger, but now they were perfectly close again. Their friendship was a nice break from Naruto and Sasuke's constant bickering and her medical work, as well as a break for Ino from her practically useless teammates.

As for her 'useless' teammates, Shikamaru Nara had managed to pass the Chunin exam, as well as Sasuke, Naruto, Shino Aburame, and Neji Hyuuga. He was, more so than the other four, leading missions and was slowly developing in a very adept captain. Their other teammate, Chouji Akimichi, was just as he usually was – always eating.

But Shikamaru wasn't the only Chunin who was doing great things. Neji Hyuuga, in the year above them, was developing new methods of using the Byakugan and sealing up chakra points, and had even come up with his own methods of doing so. These methods were being taught to the head of the Hyuuga family, as well as his cousin, Hinata Hyuuga.

Speaking of his cousin, she had grown quickly from a stuttering Genin to a proud kunoichi in just a matter of a few years. She was still 'in love' with Naruto Uzumaki, probably even more so than she'd ever been – but she'd realized long ago that the way to a ninja's heart was through combat, so she'd been training her ass off for the past few years.

While her training was doing _her _astronomical good, her teammates, Kiba and Shino, were both suffering from the same affliction – they both felt as if they were in love with the blossoming young woman. For Kiba, he described it as 'pack mentality,' as if he would do anything to protect her. For Shino, it was mostly that she was the only person who didn't shy away from him at all, and embraced him for the quiet and yet caring person he truly was.

The last two members of the "Konoha Twelve," Rock Lee and Tenten, were both, as usual, training as much as they could in order to catch up to the thriving third member of their team, Neji Hyuuga.

Konoha's young were, as usual, prospering and growing well. Rivalries and friendships were formed with bonds stronger than steel, and a camaraderie was so prevalent among all of them that not one of them could have honestly asked for anything better. They were growing into strong shinobi, dealing with all of the common problems that young ninjas should deal with; namely being their first kills, their first failed missions, and their more strenuous training programs.

And Konoha's slightly older ninjas were prospering as well. Kurenai had just discovered she was pregnant with Asuma's child, and Asuma had informed the two people most important to him – Shikamaru and Kakashi. As for Kakashi, he was seriously dating Iruka, and had more or less moved in with the other ninja. They still hadn't told Naruto of their relationship and were extremely secretive about it, at Iruka's behest, but Kakashi was slowly wearing him down towards informing the younger ninja.

And they were in such a state when Tsunade, the current Hokage, got an urgent demand from the country of Suna – the village of vampires.

**A/N: Okay. Sorry for the short chapter, but I thought it was more… dramatic? To be short. And aside from that, I think explaining what was going on with time skips and actual plot don't exactly flow well together… Anyways. The next chapter brings back Gaara, Temari, and Kankarou finally. I missed writing crazy Gaara. 3 **


	6. Chapter 5

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Five – Victim Candidacy? _

"I called this meeting to forewarn you – it's that time again," Tsunade began speaking with her back to the large masses of Jonin and ANBU members. "Suna has requested three young Chunin to be recruited as victims. Konoha, the Rain, and the Cloud have been chosen for this year."

"Who are the possible candidates?" Kakashi asked, stepping forward. It was the question that everyone had wanted to ask, but Kakashi knew he had to ask it. Chunin, in general, did not attend these meetings; and Kakashi knew one particular Chunin who deserved to know.

"The candidates are those that just passed the Chunin exams. The others are either not in the correct age range, or they have already become Jonin; according to our treaty, Jonin are far too expendable. The candidates are Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, and Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuuga are pardoned, as they are members of important clans."

"Pardon me, Tsunade-sama," Hiashi Hyuuga stepped forward. "While Neji is a Hyuuga, he is not of significant importance. He means more to Konoha as a Chunin than as a member of the Hyuuga clan. I am sure he would feel the same way."

Tsunade looked at him warily, but then said, "Very well. Neji Hyuuga is also a candidate."

Kakashi had let out a secret sigh of relief. He would have been quite upset if the closest thing he had to an apprentice was a candidate; there would, after all, be someone in Suna that would request the last Uchiha.

But by the same token, Naruto was up for consideration. Kakashi thought that the chances of him being picked were slim, especially if they allowed him to _speak_, but the chances were still there, and that was enough to upset Iruka. On the other hand, the Cloud had a good deal of Chunin; most of the ones chosen would probably come from that village.

And, as for the other three up for consideration…. Neji Hyuuga was a good choice, but Shikamaru Nara was far too uninterested and uninteresting, and Shino Aburame's clan dealt with _insects_. No vampire would choose them.

After a moment of silence, Tsunade turned to face the group of her elite. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, I got one," Anko spoke from the back of the room, a long dango stick hanging from her mouth. "When do they leave?" It was a question that sounded cruel, but it was another question everyone had asked themselves.

"They leave tomorrow, at the break of dawn. Who wants to volunteer to escort them?"

Kakashi stepped forward, as did Asuma, Kurenai, and Hayate.

"Kurenai. Step back," Asuma commanded harshly.

She looked shocked for a second, and then extremely angry. "You think I can't protect my own student?" she put her hands on her hips, and glared at him.

"Please, Kurenai. You have something more important to protect," he looked pointedly at her, and then she shook her head slightly.

"Asuma… come on. You can't leave your student, and neither can I."

"I'll protect your student as well as my own, and all the others. Step back, Kurenai – Shino and I will return in a few days, unharmed. I promise."

"I'll take her place," Anko piped up, raising a hand instead of stepping forward. She was uninterested in the meeting on the whole, but she had found the Naruto character quite amusing during the Chunin exams…

"Very well. Meet at the gates at dawn, and from there, take the Chunin as quickly as you can to Suna. They are to be treated as precious cargo – don't let them be harmed in any way, and don't make them do anything more strenuous than absolutely necessary. Dismissed."

* * *

At the gates the next day, everyone's team had gathered to see the ninjas off. Kurenai, Hinata and Kiba were talking to Shino.

"Take care, Shino," Hinata said with a soft smile. She wasn't really worried for Shino, but she wanted to approach Naruto as well…

Kurenai strode forward until she was only a foot away from her student. "Be careful and be alert at all times," she dove in for a quick hug, and when she pulled back, she said, "And be sure to say what clan you're from. It will almost ensure that you'll return back."

"Understood," Shino nodded. It was no secret that the Aburame clan used insects – every time Konoha had been chosen for candidacy, they had always returned.

"Neji! Return so that I may continue on my way of the ninja!" Lee exclaimed loudly.

"What do I have to do with your 'way of the ninja?'?" Neji asked sarcastically.

"Don't you know?" Gai asked, placing a hand on Neji's shoulder. "You are Lee's ultimate rival – to continue on his path, he must eventually beat you." Gai turned to Lee, gave him thumbs up, and smirked. "Right, Lee?"

"Personally, Neji, I think you're lucky because you get a break from them," Tenten sighed. "Take care."

"I am beginning to thank my stars that Hiashi-sama offered me as a candidate," Neji nodded. "I will return safely."

"Kiba, say something," Kurenai urged.

"I don't want half-hearted words," Shino mumbled, shaking his head softly. He and Kiba had never managed to get along; they were always at each other's throats, mostly due to their clashing personalities.

"Fine," Kiba growled back. "Come back quickly so that our team can get back to normal. Hinata and I will be doing D-rank missions the entire time you're gone."

"Kiba!" Kurenai admonished.

"Well, he meant it," behind Shino's collar, he was smirking slightly – he'd managed to piss Kiba off without having to go out of his way, and that was considered a small victory.

"Naruto, take care. When you get there, talk as much as you can, talk about becoming Hokage, and act _really_ obnoxious," Iruka said after pulling the blond teen into a hug.

"So… act twelve again?" Naruto asked, somewhat confused. Usually, he was told to be on his 'best behavior,' not to do his best to be annoying.

"I think he's got it," Kakashi said with a laugh. "I'll take good care of him, Iruka. He'll be back here, eating ramen and gunning for Hokage before you know it." Kakashi smiled at Iruka, a smile that wasn't his usual false façade of everything being okay, but a real smile. "And then, maybe you can treat him to ramen."

Treat him to ramen was a code phrase. It meant, "Tell Naruto about the two of us," but if it was said in that way, then they could speak about it in front of Naruto.

"Really? If I come back, will you? As much as I can eat?" Naruto was excited. The response to his excitement was the answer.

"I don't know, Naruto… I think you should focus on other things…"

"Come on, don't tease the kid, he'll have earned it."

"We'll see when he gets back," Iruka was probably going to treat him to ramen either way, but he had to make sure that Kakashi understood that the answer was a firm, 'No, we're not telling him yet.'

"Hey, idiot," Sasuke said as he stepped forward. "Get your ass back in Konoha as soon as possible. When you get here," with a quick wrist movement, Sasuke pulled out a kunai and flung it into the ground. "I'll kick your ass using that kunai to finish you off."

"Yeah, right. When I get back, I'll prove to everyone that I'm the better ninja," Naruto muttered. "Hey, wait, where's Sakura, anyways?"

"Sakura had a late night. You know, working late into the hospital. Strange how I know these things and you don't… Must mean she tells me more," Sasuke said with a smirk. He enjoyed teasing Naruto with Sakura greatly, even though he wasn't sure that he saw the appeal that Sakura held for Naruto. But he did enjoy the fact that Naruto wanted her so badly, and yet, Sasuke could have her at the drop of a hat, if he had so chosen.

"Well, at least she didn't just come here to _brag_. I mean, she's got more sense than that."

"You know," Sasuke ignored Naruto's last comment, "I think she would have come to see _me_ off, no matter how tired she was… Don't you?"

"Shikamaru! Take care!" Ino cried out as she threw herself around Shikamaru's neck. "Come back safe, okay?"

"You're so troublesome," he said as he rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine; I'm coming back in, what, five days?"

"Yeah, but," Chouji ate a few chips, "This is probably the most dangerous mission you've ever been on."

"What about that B-rank in the Mist?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk.

"That was," he swallowed, and grabbed a few more, "Pretty sketchy, but this is worse," he grabbed another chip or two. "Just take care, man."

"That's _it_, Sasuke, I'm going to kill you right here and—"

Naruto's threat was cut off by Asuma yelling, "We're shoving off!" He turned to Kurenai, "I'll take care of everything in Suna. We'll be fine," he kissed her on the forehead, and turned to Hinata, "And make sure she takes her medicine for me, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Hinata said, bowing slightly.

"If anything happens to the women, I'm killing you personally," Shino said to Kiba as he turned around.

"Naruto. When you're rejected by the vampires for being so damn annoying, come back here so that I can kick your ass," Sasuke said coolly.

Both Iruka and Kakashi were ignoring their students' fight. Naruto was like a son to Iruka, and Sasuke was Kakashi's apprentice – they had gotten into many heated arguments over their relationship, before finally agreeing that rivalry was healthy between two young, strong ninja. But if they even acknowledged it, there was a possibility that they'd fight again…

And with that, the group was headed off to Suna, the land of vampires.

* * *

They had been travelling for two days through what was mostly desert when they finally reached the thriving city of Suna, the Village Hidden in the Sand. The citizens there were pleasant and acted very hospitable, mostly because they were citizens under the Suna Sanin, and if they were importing victims, no members of Suna would have to be sacrificed for the vampire's hunger.

They were directed to what used to be the Kazekage building. The building had been rebuilt and redecorated nearly a dozen times over the past three hundred years, expanding to encompass all the space that Gaara, Temari, and Kankarou could ever want for themselves. Here is where everything pertaining to their vampirism happened – them training their blood jutsu, their feedings, and even most meetings between the vampires and the Jonin of the Sand.

When they entered, they quickly scanned for other ninjas. There were a few here and there, mostly a few creepy guys from the Rain that needed breathing apparatuses to breath in oxygen, and a few scary-looking guys from the Cloud – the only females in the group came from the Cloud, and they were wearing extremely 'practical' clothing.

"Sakura is way sexier than them," Naruto murmured to Shikamaru. The girls from the Cloud gave him a fiercely deadly gaze, and Naruto gulped slightly. Maybe he said that too loudly…

"Girls are troublesome, especially the sexy ones, Naruto. Just drop it," Shikamaru muttered with a disinterested tone. "We're not here for that, anyways."

"Very good observation, Leaf-ninja," a female voice burst out from behind a curtain. The curtain was moved aside, and there stood a blond girl wearing a dark red robe that was bound tightly around her waist and opened to show a lot of cleavage.

A man wearing a dark suit followed her, and another shorter, red-headed boy with a symbol on his forehead followed.

They all seemed to take a quick inventory of the candidates, before pointing to a few of them, mostly the ones from the Rain. "You guys can go ahead and head home," Temari said. The ninjas from the Rain looked both relieved and disappointed at the same time – for ninjas in smaller villages, such as the Rain, being chosen was considered an honor for their village. She paused when she saw Neji. "A Hyuuga?"

"I am from the Hyuuga Branch family," Neji replied simply.

"Ah. Take off your forehead protector. In fact, everyone take off their forehead protectors and hand it to your escorts."

"_C'mon Naruto, follow Iruka's advice,"_ the Kyuubi commanded.

'Right...' Naruto thought back, before bursting out with, "Hey! We earned those forehead protectors! What gives you the right to tell a ninja to take them off?"

Kakashi let out a small sigh. It was lucky for them that the treaty said that the vampires could not harm the candidates, or else Naruto would probably be dead. Hell that was probably the only reason why Iruka gave him that advice in the first place. If something like that was said to a vampire outside of treat obligations, the vampires would tend to finish you off there and then.

Temari grabbed Naruto's cheeks between her forefingers, her nails digging into his face hard enough to hurt – a lot – but not hard enough to draw blood. "I'll give the warning now, because there is always _one_ Chunin that has the brilliant idea to act obnoxious. No Chunin-level ninja would be so annoying; that's why we get Chunin instead of Genin. Lie to us or act out of character in _any_ way, and we will find the person closest to you, and order them as our victim. And when we ask for new victims the year after? Take that as a sign that they're dead." She shoved him back.

The man in the dark outfit followed behind, and said, "Taking off the forehead protector is just so that we can see every part of your face. There's nothing behind it at all, got it, blondie?"

As Naruto handed Kakashi his forehead protector, he mumbled, "Remind me to tell Iruka his advice sucks…"

"No speaking to your escorts!" Temari called out.

"Well," everyone's head snapped to the right, where Shikamaru was standing, "It isn't like we're going to be able to escape or anything. It's troublesome to put such restrictions on us, when most of us are scared as hell."

"What? Are you a crybaby or something? What kind of a coward needs to talk to their teacher before an interview?" Temari asked, crossing her arms and staring straight at Shikamaru.

"I thought as much. Vampire women are more troublesome than regular women."

"Gaara," Temari asked, her eyes not falling from Shikamaru, "I can sense his chakra – most people have a stronger chakra signature than he does. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, since there's no way that I would have chosen him anyways," the red-headed boy spoke for the first time. There was something in his voice that scared _everyone_ in the group of candidates.

"Very well. What is your name?"

"What the hell?" Naruto demanded, not acting for once. "Why are you taking Shikamaru?" Since the Chunin exams, Naruto had considered Shikamaru to be a very close friend. They'd gone on _tons_ of missions together, and even though Shikamaru was always scheduled to be the captain of those missions (he was a better strategist), he'd never thrown it in Naruto's face or belittled him.

"Naruto! Shut up!" Kakashi barked. "Ninjas have been chosen since the beginning of our village; we were established on that principal. Get back in line."

"Well said, escort. Name?"

"Shikamaru Nara," he responded firmly, not showing any obvious signs of fear or worry. He'd been trained well as a ninja, after all.

"Very well, Shikamaru. Stand over there," she made a vague hand motion towards the other side of the room. "Kankarou, do you want to handle Gaara's selection?" Temari asked, pointedly looking at Gaara. Gaara stepped behind the curtain, as if he didn't… or couldn't… watch.

Kankarou pulled out a kunai, and nearly everyone stiffened. He went to the person furthest to the left, and said, "Give me your hand." The Cloud ninja did as instructed, and Kankarou made a small prick in the center of the palm. "No, not you," he said decisively

He went through a few others, before instructing one of the Cloud ninjas to step forward. Instead of calling Gaara back into the room to see the selection, he kept moving down the line. He instructed Neji to step forward after doing the same.

When he got to Naruto, he looked at the blood in his palm and said, "You step forward." Naruto's eyes locked with Shikamaru's, and though Naruto wanted to give him a panicked look, he kept his face frozen into a serious look.

"_They asked you to step forward? Oh, shit…"_

When Kankarou had done the same to everyone in the group, six people had stepped forward, and Naruto was standing to the right of Neji. "Now," he announced, "Channel chakra into the bleeding hand and hold out your palm." He started at the far right side, and went through the three people who had stepped up after Naruto.

When he got to Naruto's palm, his eyes widened, and he said, "This one has the _most_ chakra I've _ever_ seen in a human."

Naruto felt proud for a second.

"_Idiot! Don't feel proud – I think he's choosing you as bait for that little red-headed vampire!" _The Kyuubi paused for a second. _"And the only reason you have that chakra anyways is because of me."_

"Temari. Escort him to Gaara while I take them to _my_ test," Kankarou said. Temari grabbed a hold of Naruto and pushed him to the curtained area.

"Hold on!" Kakashi yelled. "It's it customary to give the newly-chosen victim a few last minutes with their escorts?"

Temari gave him a look that seemed genuinely sympathetic. "Not if their Gaara's victim," she said as she pushed Naruto forward.

Kakashi's hand started shaking violently. This was worse than when Rin had been chosen when he was a kid, only a few months after Obito died. Not only was he watching his student walk away, but he was watching his boyfriend's _son_ trot off to death. He wanted to yell for them to take him as a victim instead, but they'd never take someone as old as he was, or replace a victim with a volunteer.

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, and he knew it was Asuma's without even looking. Asuma firmly gripped his shoulder for a second, before letting it fall back to his side.

Naruto looked back at Shikamaru, at Kakashi, at Neji, at Shikamaru, and hell, even all the other escorts and Shino. He felt like it'd be the last time he'd see any of them; he suddenly got the feeling that he was going to die.

He was pushed through the curtain, and as soon as he was, he was against the wall. Gaara no longer looked calm and composed. His eyes were burning with a crazy bloodlust, and he looked desperate. Gaara grabbed his bleeding hand and licked the center of the palm, as if tasting Naruto.

Gaara's eyes widened in a sort of surprised look, and he gave Naruto a demonic grin. "Good choice," he growled before ripping Naruto's jacket off (literally), and latching around his neck. Naruto nearly cried out, but a hand clamped firmly around his mouth.

Temari whispered in his ear, "Look, you got a rough deal, getting chosen by Gaara, but if you cry out, everyone is going to freak out, and your friends will think you're dead. You don't want that, right?" she leaned in closer, and whispered, "Depending on Gaara's mood, you might get a moment or two with your escort. The silver-haired one, right? I'll tell him to wait a bit before leaving, okay? Just take this like a good boy."

Somewhere in the middle of her talking, Gaara had pulled his shirt to the side, exposing his neck. His fangs pressed deeply into his flesh without giving Naruto any warning at all, and Naruto cried out against Temari's palm. When he was finished talking, he suddenly felt calmer, like he'd just been given a sedative. It didn't take him long to realize that the source of his calm was coming from Temari, and that she was emanating a blood jutsu to calm him. He could still feel the pain of his bite, but he felt like it didn't matter, somehow.

"Just relax…" she murmured into his ear.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kankarou was leading all of the other candidates and every escort, except for Kakashi and Asuma, to a different room in the back of the compound. The room was littered with chairs, some bolted to the floor by the wall, others with wheels, and others that were just randomly placed. There were many more chairs than people, and when Kankarou instructed them to sit, they automatically sat down in groups with their own village.

Neji and Shino sat off to the side, Shino in a seat against the all, and Neji in a rolling seat close enough to Shino that they could talk.

"How do you think Naruto is?" Neji murmured. He had never really spoken to Naruto, but Naruto had impacted his life a great deal during the Chunin exams. Neji had lost to the biggest idiot in Konoha, but at the same time, Neji had needed some sense beaten into him. He was honestly worried about Naruto, since he'd been dragged off so quickly.

"I think… that the one who chose him isn't mentally stable. He seemed to be holding himself back a great deal, as if he were trying not to kill everyone in the room."

As they spoke, Cloud ninjas were being called into the back room. They'd spend around five minutes in the room, before another would be called to the room as well. Neji and Shino fell silent, attempting to hear into the other room, but the room was so excellently sound-proofed that there was no way to hear into the room.

After the second ninja was called into the room, Shino sent a bug to wait on one of them. The bug landed unnoticed, and Shino turned to Neji, and talked as if it hadn't happened. "Can you see anything?"

Neji tilted his head down, so that none of the Cloud ninjas could see him use the Byakugan. "I can only read chakra like this, but I see strings of chakra, and three human-shaped chakra receptors. Except one of them is weird – its tenketsu seem to be more like chakra receivers instead of transmitters, and it's shaped oddly."

When the ninja after the bugged ninja entered the room, Shino's bug exited, unnoticed by everyone. It flew back to Shino and landed on his neck. It began giving him details of the room, and finally, Shino told Neji.

"Apparently, the odd human-shaped thing is a puppet. We are to fight it while Kankarou spouts off random facts. The person the bug was on went to a door on the left, but there was another door that was more forward."

"I see… so we have to fight… the random facts must…"

"Shino Aburame," Kankarou called from the doorway. There were still four Cloud ninjas left, and he had suddenly called Shino out of his usual pattern of calling those closest to the door.

Shino stood, and walked in silence towards the door. When he got into the room, he took note of the human-shaped mass that stood behind Kankarou, as if waiting.

"A bug?" Kankarou asked as if disappointed in Shino.

"Well, I am an Aburame," Shino said smoothly, remembering Kurenai's advice. Unlike the advice given to Naruto, it seemed that the advice he'd been given might actually _help_ him.

"Yes… the bug clan of Konoha, right? You know, there are worse things than _bugs_. Speaking of bugs… did you happen to bug that last Cloud guy?"

"What makes you assume I would do something so dishonest?" Shino felt that Kankarou was bluffing, and there was only way to decide whether he was or not – he had to call the bluff.

"Well, you're staring _right_ at my puppet, like you're waiting for it to move… Did that Hyuuga kid happen to use his Byakugan? Well, never mind, it doesn't matter much, anyways. I like cheaters," Kankarou smirked. "Cheating shows you have some sense."

The puppet rushed forward, flinging knives out of different joints. Kankarou kept talking however, as if the puppet wasn't even fighting Shino. "You know, I've been doing this for nearly two-hundred and fifty years now. The interviews, not being a vampire – I've been a vampire for five decades longer than that. I didn't enjoy vampirism for a good deal, 'cause I just couldn't seem to keep _live_ victims, they kept dying on me. Like this one girl, I felt so bad for her; I tore her jugular in the middle of feeding. So she bled to death after I'd already finished eating, so I went ahead and finished her off so that she wouldn't have to feel the end coming, you know? It was really horrible, but really long before you were born. I can't even remember her name, or what year that happened in, but I remember her _dying_, that's the funny thing. Do you think I'm senile, Shino?"

"You," Shino deflected a knife, "Seem to be perfectly in the," he deflected another one and sent bugs towards the puppet, "Present, so no." He manipulated the bugs to escape an attack, and then for them to attack the puppet.

"Well, that's nice to hear, at least," Kankarou said. He flicked one of his fingers, a movement that Shino had noticed to be a 'trigger' sort of movement – but instead of a joint firing out, nothing happened. "What?" Kankarou glared at the puppet.

"I had my bugs clog the joints. I believe the test is over," Shino's statement seemed haughty, but his tone of voice was so matter-of-fact that it was nearly impossible to take it in that way.

"Heh. You just defeated my puppet and didn't even get a scratch on you. Wait in the back room; I still have a few more tests to run."

When Shino called his bugs back, he purposefully held his arms at a high angle, so that Kankarou could see them burrow back into his skin. He was beginning to think that he did a little too well on the test; Kankarou seemed almost impressed.

Five minutes later, Neji came in the same room. Besides the two of them, only three other Cloud ninjas were in the room when everyone had been 'tested.' When everyone was finished, Kankarou walked into the room.

"I know my test is probably the most time-consuming. Shino Aburame, come for the second part of the test," he announced. Shino stood slowly, unsure of what to do. Since he was first, it was impossible to determine what the second test was. He was about to exit the room, when Kankarou pushed him back slightly. "First thing is first. Hand the other Konoha guy your jacket and glasses."

Shino looked at Neji, and then back at Kankarou, as if not comprehending. "Why am I taking off my jacket and glasses?"

"Well. If I'm seriously considering you, I need to see what you look like. Now, go on," Kankarou said with a smug look on his face. Shino, under normal circumstances, would never have taken his jacket and glasses off, but this was a special case. He pulled off his jacket first, unbuttoning it and folding it before handing it to Neji. He took his glasses off and handed them to Neji next, feeling nearly naked.

Underneath the jacket he wore a tight, navy blue sleeveless shirt. Since he wore the jacket all the time, he needed something light underneath it to keep himself from getting overheated. Also, the bugs needed a place to burrow into his skin as well. His shirt showed off how small and agile he appeared something that the baggy jacket covered up.

However, what were more interesting than his torso were his _eyes_. They weren't a remarkable color, but rather, they were a feminine shape, as if they belong on a boy rather than a girl. Coupled with the fact that he was very small, and that, without his forehead protector, his hair fell down below his ears, he looked like a young girl.

"You do a good job of making yourself look butch!" Kankarou laughed, and thumped him on the back. While Shino did feel _highly_ uncomfortable, he was more worried about how comfortable Kankarou was with him – after all, he wasn't giving anyone else the same kind of attention.

Feeling vulnerable, he strode out towards his doom.

* * *

Temari carried the young blond boy to a bed in a small room. She laid him on top of the bed with a sigh. She had known that when she told him he might get to say goodbye that it was a lie – but she needed to say something calming for her blood jutsu of sedation to work on him. She always felt a very poignant sadness for Gaara's victims, even through as many years as they had lived. It wasn't fair, she thought, for them to get such a cruel vampire.

The Akatsuki were nice to their victims, mostly. They even picked _one_, turned them, and then just drank from them for eternity. But Gaara… Gaara barely remembered that humans needed real food, and water, and restroom breaks. Temari and Kankarou typically took care of Gaara's victims, when Gaara was most likely to drink them dry and leave them to rot.

She smoothed his hair back, the familiar feeling of maternal affection surging through her. Yes, Gaara's victims were often like children to her; she'd never been able to have any of her own, and she had always wanted a few kids. After making sure that he was going to be fine, she left him in the room, locking the door behind her. She walked to the main room, and found Shikamaru talking to his escorts, Asuma in particular.

"The Uzumaki kid is sleeping – he's fine," she said, looking them all in the eyes, daring them to call her a liar. "His vampire couldn't restrain himself long enough to brief the kid or let him say goodbye first. Was there…" she dropped her head, and looked around warily, "Anything you wanted to tell him?"

"You're a sweet girl," the Hayate threw in.

"I have something to tell him," the silver-haired man said. "Tell him…" Kakashi sighed. "That we all care about him and that we'll all miss him. And tell him that Kakashi said not to give up, and that he still has to surpass Sasuke, even in his situation."

"Understood. Was that all?" Temari looked at the other escorts, and they all shook their heads. "Okay. Well, whenever whoever Kankarou picks comes out, you guys are leaving five minutes after that." Temari turned and began walking to the curtained hallway.

"You're… not going to make me go with you?" Shikamaru wasn't upset, but he _was_ somewhat confused.

"Ch. I have patience."

* * *

Shino sat down in a chair, and Kankarou sat across from him. The room was small and cramped. "Hold out your palm," Kankarou instructed. Shino did as told, placing his hand palm up on the table. Kankarou pulled out a kunai, and reopened the wound in the center of his palm.

Kankarou placed his hand on top of the fresh wound, and Shino felt chakra being channel through his blood and into his arm. He could feel the chakra move up his appendage, through his chest, and finally, to his very core. Suddenly, he felt almost paralyzed.

"This is a test, kind of like an interview that you can_not_ lie during. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Try to lie on this question. What village are you from?"

"Gra… Ra… Konoha."

"Okay. Real questions. How long have I been a vampire?"

"Three hundred years."

Kankarou went through every piece of information he'd spouted out during the battle, and when Shino got all of the questions right, Kankarou moved on.

"So. You're from the Aburame clan. Where do the bugs… live?"

"I have two layers of skin. One is a false layer, under which the bugs stay. The next layer under that is my real layer of skin."

"Okay… so, wait, you're smaller than _that_?"

"Yes, by about a half-inch."

"Jeez, are you sure you're fifteen?"

"Yeah…"

"Interesting. So, say, if I were to feed from you, could you move the bugs so that I'm not getting a little extra protein with your blood?"

"That's disgusting," Shino stated simply, before answering the question, "But yes, I could instruct the bugs to move to a different part of my body."

"If you were to die, do the bugs die, too?"

"The bugs are genetically engineered to attack my killer and then return home, should they survive."

"Can you get rid of the bugs?"

"No."

"I see… well, that's just something I'll have to deal with…"

"This bothers me," Shino said instead of waiting for a new question. "You are speaking as if you've made your decision already."

"I have, pretty much. Hell, you don't ask what kind of soup a place has if you're sure you're getting steak, do you? Favorite color?"

"Blue. I don't want this."

"No one does, Shino. May I call you Shino, or do you want me to stick with bug kid?"

"… Shino."

"Is your teacher out there?"

"No, she's pregnant. But her boyfriend is out there."

"Jeez, you're unlucky. Well, we'll have you say whatever you want to her boyfriend, and then we'll get you briefed on the life of a victim."

"Wonderful."

* * *

One by one, every Cloud ninja went through the front room and exited with their escorts. Finally, Neji walked to the room. "Shino… Shino was chosen," Neji muttered, as if angry.

"You're kidding," Hayate said, his face frozen in shock.

"Damn it!" Asuma yelled out, finally losing his cool. He could deal with either Shikamaru or Shino, but having to deal with his apprentice and his girlfriend being depressed at the same time? It was almost too much. He punched the wall.

"That… three of our Chunin? In one go? What is that, some sort of fucking record?" Anko spat out.

It was then that Shino walked into the room, his jacket and glasses on again. Shino walked up to Asuma, and said, "Tell Kurenai to be careful, and to take care of her kid. Tell Hinata that she's… she's a great girl, and she'll be a great ninja in a year or two, and that I honestly think that she's strong and brave. And tell Kiba to grow up."

"You… you got it," Asuma said, rubbing his knuckles.

"Oh. And take care of Kurenai. A father, especially a father that's a ninja, shouldn't be getting so worked up over something like this."

"Time for everyone to leave," Temari announced. She handed the group back their four forehead protectors. "They are no longer Konoha ninjas. We'll send them back to Konoha if they live to be twenty. And Konoha is exempt from sending candidates for ten years."

"You're wrong about one thing. They'll always be Konoha ninjas, because they carry the inextinguishable 'will of fire.' Tell that to Naruto, too, okay?" As he spoke, Asuma was gripping Shikamaru's forehead protector tightly enough to leave bright white marks in his tanned, callused hands.

Kakashi looked down at the forehead protector he was carrying. It still had a blond hair attached – it had to be Naruto's. Through the Leaf mark was a diagonal slash. If Naruto managed to return, he'd don that protector as a symbol of what he'd survived.

But Kakashi held little hope for that.

**A/N: Really long chapter. Maybe I should have just combined the last chapter with like, a third of this one? Oh, well. My internet was down for a bit, so updating was a bit… Yeah. Anyways. I wrote the entire time internet was out, though, so I have a few chapters already ready for my beta reader to… beta. xD Review, please! 3**


	7. Chapter 6

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Six – I Want My Innocence Back_

It had been a week since what remained of the group arrived back at Konoha. Kakashi gave Iruka Naruto's headband; Kurenai delivered Shino's to his father, and Asuma did the same for Shikamaru. They didn't have a funeral, but they had a sort of "Appreciation Service" where everyone wore black and cried. There was a small shrine to each of them, and in front of them, fellow shinobi were encouraged to place flowers and other sentiments.

After all, none of them knew whether or not they'd return alive. The treaty stated that, should they die, the bodies would be delivered back to Konoha with no explanation. However, if they managed to live until they were twenty, they would resume their lives as Konoha ninja.

One ninja in the crowd, who had done just that, gave the inspirational service. Genma spoke honestly about what they would go through, but overly simplified their chances of returning home by saying, "Hey, it's happened before. They're from Konoha – it can happen again."

Everyone laid down flowers, except for the lone Uchiha. In front of Naruto's shrine, he put a dirt-covered kunai.

* * *

"Naruto," Temari said from the barred opening in the door. Naruto felt weak; Gaara had taken a _lot_ from his last feeding, and while the wound was closed, he was still lethargic from the blood loss. "Naruto, are you hungry?"

"… _thirsty…_" Naruto managed to choke out. Temari glanced around, as if making sure that Gaara was nowhere in sight, before opening the door and sliding in. She had a canister of water and a straw, already having known that he wouldn't be hungry until he had more of his blood back.

"Here," she held it up for Naruto as he drunk. He didn't move from his position of being curled up on the bed, too tired to even move his arms. "How… how are your wounds? I can't heal them perfectly, but I can stop the bleeding, at least…"

"No… no, they've stopped bleeding…"

"_Whatever you do, do not let her see the healed wounds!"_

'_I know, I know, if she knows, they might figure you out.'_

"Well. I have Suna work to attend to. I'll tell Kankarou to check on you every hour if it's all clear, alright?"

"… 'kay…"

* * *

"Okay, we're back on regularly scheduled missions. We'll probably be going on a lot of missions with Team Asuma and Team Kurenai, since we have the only Chunin in the two-man teams…" Kakashi looked off to the side.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, Sasuke, that's all. Go back to your training, or whatever it is you want to do," Kakashi said with a sigh. He wasn't sure whether Sasuke actually cared about Naruto's absence or not, but he knew that Sasuke wouldn't show it if he did.

"Hey, Sasuke, do you want to train together?" Sakura asked, moving to catch up to Sasuke. Kakashi had caught Sakura feeling sorry for how she'd treated Naruto before, but she was hiding her feelings about it as well. She'd immersed herself in work and training, constantly either going on missions or perfecting her medical jutsu.

'_My team is full of the most emotionally-repressed kids in Konoha. At least Asuma's team is __**reacting**__,'_ Kakashi thought bitterly as he headed to town. He wanted to see Iruka, mostly because he'd been caught carrying Naruto's headband around everywhere.

That, and he heard an elementary kid say something about hearing sobbing when the classroom should have been empty.

* * *

"Hold _still_," Kankarou growled, pressing Shino against the bed.

"Isn't there a way to do this without it feeling so intimate?" Shino muttered, inching away from Kankarou's grip.

"Not really. It's pretty much on the bed or against a wall. Take your pick. Now, hold _still_," Kankarou pressed Shino into the bed, holding him hard enough to form bruises. "And so help me, if I bite into a bug again, I'm not healing you."

Shino didn't move his neck, so Kankarou roughly twisted Shino's head to the side and clamped into his neck. It was strange to feel his fangs go through one layer of skin, a quarter-inch of empty space, and then real skin. On the bright side, Kankarou's problem had always been accidently going in too deep; this way, it was nearly impossible.

When Kankarou was done, he did his best to clean up the blood in between the two layers of skin before healing the regular layer of skin. The bugs had to rebuild the top layer of skin themselves, since it was a synthetic skin material that the bugs formed for their protection.

"See? That wasn't so bad, right?" Kankarou flashed him a smirk.

"It was painful," Shino pulled his glasses back on and pushed his hair up, trying to get it as upright as possible. Kankarou had taken away his jacket, because it made Shino 'inaccessible.' He'd also changed Shino's dark blue shirt for black tank tops, which were looser and felt more revealing.

"Well, stop resisting me and I'll start numbing you," Kankarou growled. "Jeez, I have never had a victim that just couldn't…" Kankarou was complaining as he left the room. "Whatever. What do you want for dinner?"

"… Curry."

"Spicy or mild?"

"Medium."

"With?"

"Hot tea."

"I'll bring it by in an hour. Need water?"

"Please."

With that, Kankarou left the room. Shino still wasn't used to some of the misplaced hospitality combined with the harsh demands in feeding, and he was having a rough time figuring out Kankarou. He was so demanding one second, and the next, he was asking specifics about food and drinks and offering to bring him extra water. It didn't make any _sense_. But then again, what did make sense anymore?

* * *

"Kiba, would you mind if I sparred against both you and Akamaru? in Half-Beast form?"

"That… might be a bit much for you, Hinata. I mean, sure, you can, but are you sure you're ready…?"

"I'm ready. I need to train the taijutsu to the Hyuuga technique, and there is only one way to do such a thing. Don't hold back, please."

Kiba released the Half-Beast technique, and as soon as he did, he and Akamaru were attacking Hinata from opposite sides. She parried and blocked easily, countered well enough, but most of her offensive attacks needed work. Akamaru and Kiba continued to attack from different sides at different angles, and it was understood that if she tapped them, they were to pull away; she didn't want to actually close their tenketsu, so she just simulated it, as if she _were_ doing it.

Eventually, Kiba managed to hit her in the stomach. She let out a gasp of breath and took in a large inhalation. "Keep… going," she demanded, attacking Akamaru and then blocking Kiba's oncoming attack.

After nearly thirty minutes of sparring, Kiba panted, "Look, the technique is going to run out. We're… we've done enough for now."

"Okay," Hinata dropped out of fighting stance, and a few seconds later, Akamaru had shifted back to being a gigantic wolf-dog.

"Man, Kurenai should be watching us. And she thought we wouldn't be as good without Shino. Ha!" Akamaru accentuated his exclamation with a bark.

"Well, I do miss him. He didn't really _train_ with us, but he did watch our backs. He was a good comrade," Hinata said, her tone hinting that Kiba had said something offensive.

"Ch, please. He was antisocial and anyways, it was better him than your cousin," Hinata glared at him darkly. "You know… for the good of the village!"

"Kiba, you…" Hinata let out a frustrated sigh. "How would you feel if you were in the same position, and all people could say about it was that, 'at least it wasn't Neji'?" Wouldn't you feel lonely? He was our _comrade_, and…" she shook her head. "Shino was right, Kiba. You do need to grow up," she said as she walked back to the tree where she'd laid her things, and pulled on her jacket. "Tomorrow's mission. Don't forget. Again," she muttered as she walked away from him.

"What the hell?" Kiba demanded of Akamaru, but the only response he got was a pitying groan. "I mean, hell, they didn't even _talk_!"

* * *

"Did it heal right?" Temari asked as she set Shikamaru's dinner table. "You didn't feel anything, did you? or did the jutsu just kind of shut you up?"

"Ugh, how troublesome. We go through this _each_ time. It healed fine, and no, I didn't feel anything. Pass the salt."

"What's up _your_ ass tonight?" Temari muttered back as she handed him the salt.

"My mind is going _stagnant._ I can't… Do you have _anything_ for me to do besides read? Chess? Go? Hell, I'll settle for _checkers_…"

"Oh, what, miss your baby games?"

"They're not _baby games_; they're strategy-based games."

"Come on, books aren't good enough? We have a private library with every book known to man."

"Sure, but can you leave the spoon from dinner? Maybe I can exercise my mind by trying to bend it with kinetic powers."

"Fine, I'll get you… What, chess, go, and checkers?"

"… I was just joking about checkers. But anything like chess or go that you can find…"

* * *

"Chouji, _what the hell_ are you doing?" Ino demanded. She hadn't been around her remaining teammate that much in the past week, sure, so she had no idea what he'd been doing as training since then.

He was doing Rock Lee-style training, punching and kicking a large tree trunk until his muscles were more toned. His arms were covered in bruises, and each movement seemed to be driven by some kind of desperation.

"I'm _training_."

"I can see that. What's with the sudden training change?"

"Shikamaru and I talked," he punched the tree a few more times. "You know, before he left. He said that if he was chosen," he let out a bitter laugh, "No, on the 'off-chance' that he was chosen," he punched and kicked the tree a few more times. "That I was going to have to be the one to keep you safe during missions. Asuma is going to train me in wind jutsu once I get slimmed down."

"Slimmed down? What kind of diet are you on?"

Chouji stopped punching the tree trunk and began laughing, almost maniacally. "Diet? You're going to talk to _me_ about 'dangerous diets?' Ino, you're the one that tried to stop eating for a week while Sasuke was away so that when he came back he might notice."

"What kind of diet are you on?" she asked again. At that point, his stomach growled. "When was the last time you ate?"

"About two hours ago. But my body is used to eating _during_ training, so…" he pulled out a packet of food pills, and popped one into his mouth. He closed his eyes, and then began punching the tree with an almost scary vigor.

"Okay! How many of those have you taken?" Now Ino was sure she had a reason to worry. Dangerous diets for ninjas and dangerous diets for regular people were two different things. Ninjas were used to scarce food during missions, so they'd often eat very little, or not at all, for the duration of missions. However, ninjas had access to certain drugs, like food pills, that could burn calories and create chakra like large factories put out smoke.

If you consumed a lot of them without eating, a ninja could do their body extremely serious internal damage.

"How many? This pack came with like, twelve, and I have two left… I'll grab more at lunch time," he said as he continued to punch and kick the tree trunk with his scary ferocity.

"You don't see something _wrong_ with that? I mean, at least when _I_ diet, I don't use fucking food pills to…!"

"Hey, Ino, watch that language. If we're going to be Asuma's kid's role models, we can't be using curse words around him. And you can't _stop_ me from this – I need to do this. For Shikamaru."

"Shikamaru wouldn't have wanted…" she stopped when she realized she wasn't getting through to him. "Oh, whatever!" she formed a rectangle with her thumbs and her forefingers, and used her Mind Jutsu to take over Chouji's body. Since he wasn't paying attention, he didn't bother moving the two feet it would have taken to avoid the attack.

Once she had control, she pulled out the pack of food pills and dumped it on the ground before stomping them into the dirt. She searched out his belt for other bags and packets of food pills, and when she found his three _extreme_ food pills, she went ahead and disposed of them. Once she was satisfied with that, she felt his stomach – it was still plump, but a good size smaller than Chouji usually was.

"_Come __**on**__, Ino, let me have my body back!"_ Chouji's voice demanded in the back of her consciousness.

"Are you going to eat something?"

"_You know I can just get more of those food pills easy, right? My dad keeps them __**everywhere**__. You're not proving anything."_

"Yeah, that's true. How does your dad feel about this, anyways?"

"_He doesn't care about the extra training, but he isn't happy about the diet…"_

"I'm going to go speak to your father for you."

"_What, and leave your body in the middle of the forest?"_

"I'll leave a note. We're in the middle of Konoha, I'm not worried." She pulled her body against a tree, and put a note on her lap. It read: "Out to lunch. Don't touch me."

* * *

Kurenai and Asuma sat across from each other, sitting in the two familiar seats where Shikamaru and Asuma used to play chess together. Kurenai was staring off into the distance, one hand absentmindedly hovering over her stomach. Asuma stared at her and through her at the same time.

"I'm sorry," he said, after nearly an hour of the two of them being lost in silence, immersed in their own thoughts.

"Excuse me?" she asked, blinking at him as if she hadn't heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry."

Kurenai let out a small sigh. "For what?"

"For… you know. Shino."

Her face seemed to fall slightly, as if being reminded of her depression. She reached out for his hand, and held one of them against the table. "It's not your fault. Shino… I don't know why they'd want him. But for whatever reason they picked him, I think he'd be kind of glad that it didn't have to do with his bugs. I could tell he was tired of being singled out because of being an Aburame. It might be nice of him to just be… Shino for at least five years."

She looked down. She didn't believe her own lie.

"I was talking to Genma about them. I can't tell Kakashi this, but… he knew the three vampires well enough to tell me their chances of returning. Shikamaru got the female vampire, Temari. He has a really excellent chance of returning; apparently she's quite kind, if a bit strict. Shino got Kankarou, and he has a pretty decent fighting chance; Kankarou has a problem with 'accidental kills,' so if he doesn't have an accident, Shino will be fine. But Naruto got Gaara, and Gaara… was more bloodthirsty than a vampire _before_ he was turned."

Kurenai looked down at their hands, and gave his hand a squeeze. "When those two come back… our son will be five years old and attending elementary school."

"Yeah."

"And… our son will be a Genin at twelve, so that's seven years… If our son becomes a Chunin at fifteen, he could be up for candidacy."

"Maybe we'll talk him into waiting on the Chunin exams. Even if it kills him to wait."

* * *

Kakashi checked by the elementary school, but when he was sure that Iruka was not, in fact, still in his classroom, he moved towards Iruka's apartment. He checked by Ichiraku's on the way just to be sure, but when he confirmed that Iruka was not there, he continued on his way.

When he got to his apartment, instead of knocking, he climbed in through the (what had been locked) bedroom window, and slowly edged towards the door that led to the living room. He didn't hear sobbing, but he did hear very loud cursing. And when Iruka was cursing very loudly and was _not_ provoked by some student, Kakashi knew there was something wrong.

"**Damn it!** I'm such a… a… God, what the **fuck** is wrong with me? Why couldn't I just say something like, 'Well, if the Uchiha kid is exempt from being a **fucking** candidate, shouldn't the **fucking** Kyuubi container be, too?' I should have been able to—"

"Iruka?" Kakashi asked as he came out of the room.

"Kakashi?" Iruka was thrown out of his tantrum. "What are you doing here? I haven't even _seen_ you, since…"

"Yeah, well, Sasuke and Sakura are kind of… torn up about things, and the team is… well, you know."

Iruka scoffed. "You're talking like you're lying about being late, not giving an excuse for _avoiding_ me."

Kakashi looked away and sighed. "Yes, well." He rubbed the back of his head. "I needed time to think. Not really about _us_, more about… You know. My team. They're not… as emotional as they should be. I mean, I lost a team member, and I was a _Sasuke_ character, and I still got upset… But Sasuke and Sakura don't seem to be dealing with it…"

Iruka scoffed again. "What, _Naruto_ doesn't matter in the equation anymore? Oh, wow, Sasuke doesn't have someone to fight all the time. And, oh, no! Sakura doesn't have someone to totally ignore! Guess they'll both have to move on. Meanwhile, Naruto might be _bleeding out_ on some vampire's bed!" Iruka grabbed the nearest object – it happened to be a lamp – and threw it against the wall.

"Iruka," Kakashi said it firmly, as if he were chastising a small child. Iruka paused suddenly, as if he had just remembered who he was talking to. "I get it," Kakashi finally whispered. "I know… Naruto was… Hell, he was probably the best _person_ on my team, over all. He was a good kid, and… I miss him. I really do. But we have to move on. It's something that's been done for the past three hundred years. And if anyone can survive until they're twenty, it's Naruto. Hell, he might escape before then! But, then again, that would cause Konoha a lot of problems…"

"I… I feel like I lost a kid."

Kakashi laughed softly, as if admiring the irony of the situation. "Everyone knows you think of Naruto as a son. I'm pretty sure that Naruto thought of you as a father. You know, his forehead protector… legally, it was supposed to go to me. I mean, he's an orphan; I'm recognized as the closest thing to a legal guardian. But I gave it to you, because you're the one who it rightfully belongs to."

Kakashi walked over to him, and pulled him into a tight hug. "And I'm glad to see you're not as emotionally constipated as the rest of my team, anyways," Kakashi muttered into his hair.

He didn't say anything about the hot, wet streaks he felt on his shirt. Ninjas didn't cry – or at least, they don't acknowledge that they do.

**A/N: Maybe I'm trying to do too much with side-plots, but I like too many of the other characters to **_**not**_** write about them. xD Sorry about that. Review, please! 3**


	8. Chapter 7

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Seven – Putting on the Ritz_

"_Come on, you idiot. Wake up. You need to eat soon or you'll never regain enough blood to manage the next feeding."_

'_Isn't there anything that you can do, Kyuubi?'_

"_There is… I know how to convert chakra to blood. But it takes up a lot, and I need to be in control of the vessel."_

'_You can convert chakra to blood?'_

"_You can do almost anything with chakra if you have enough to spare. So?"_

'… _Why don't you just take control? I'm too weak to stop you…'_

"_I'm testing your will to survive. Would you want to survive, even if I managed to gain complete control of the vessel, and you were living only in my subconscious?"_

'_That'll never happen. But yes, I'd rather live like that than die. Now, take control and do that thing with the chakra!'_

Naruto's eyes shot open, now a dull red color instead his usual sparkling blue. He shifted his gaze to the right, where Temari had left a large meal and a large canister of tea, both of which had to be cold by now. He quickly ate the entirety of the meal, beef stew and rice, and gulped down as much of the tea as he could. Naruto was feeling too weak to do anything about his hunger, anyways.

After he finished eating, he quickly wiped at Naruto's mouth and sat in the middle of the room. He took the fork he'd been given and, aiming carefully at the center, stabbed into each of Naruto's palms hard enough to draw blood. He pressed the two palms together, and began channeling huge amounts of chakra through his palms and into his bloodstream.

By streaming chakra into his flowing blood, he stimulated blood production. He kept his hands channeling chakra as Naruto spoke to him.

'_How are you doing that?'_

"_It's… basically, part medical-jutsu and part bunshin."_

'_Can you show me how to do it? I might actually have a shot of surviving for five years with this.'_

"_About that. I was thinking more along the lines of escape than just survival."_

'… _Konoha can get in trouble for that. And aside from that—'_

"_Aside from that, __**you**__… well, __**we**__… could be in a lot of trouble if they find out about me. We need to escape and find somewhere we ca—"_

"Oi! Naruto, do you need anything? Wait, what the hell are you doing?" Sometime during his talk with the Kyuubi, Kankarou had shown up at Naruto's door.

"Meditating," the Kyuubi automatically replied. He couldn't stop the production of blood cells at the moment; Naruto still didn't have enough blood, and aside from that, the Kyuubi hadn't used up all of the chakra he put into the cycle initially. If he didn't at least use that much, he'd be wasting a _lot_ of precious chakra.

"Meditation? You don't seem like the type to do something like that…" Kankarou said warily.

"Well, I'm the Number One Ninja at Surprising People, so that makes sense! You look too dense to get it, anyways!"

'_Oi, I don't talk like that anymore… I'm not twelve, damn it!'_ Naruto protested.

Kankarou let out a laugh. "Boy, I've lived a good deal longer than you; I know how useless meditation is. Do you need anything?"

Before the Kyuubi could reply that he was fine, Temari stormed past and began to hectically whisper something to Kankarou.

"Tomorrow? What, they can't give us a week's notice? Is it _that_ hard? JEEZ!" Kankarou threw his hands up in frustration.

"Yeah, well," Temari half-agreed with a sigh. "We have to get everyone… Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Meditation," Kankarou and the Kyuubi both replied.

"Ah. Good to see you're," her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Feeling better. What's with all the chakra? I've never seen meditation that uses _chakra_…"

"It… I'm stimulating my body with the excess chakra I have so that I don't go soft. Unless you want to let me walk around the compound or do some training?"

Temari sighed. "Not likely, blondie. As you were. Kankarou, we have to have the main rooms cleaned and fix up our victims."

"Oh, great, they're looking at our victims?" his voice dripped with sarcasm, before sounding worried. "Who is coming?"

"Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara."

"Damn it! It's only because—"

"Yes, Kankarou, we know that the past century and a half has all been you defending your sexuality. Now, go get _nice_ clothes that fit your victim, and I'll send the servants to start cleaning before I work on Naruto and Shikamaru."

"Wait. What? Gaara isn't 'fixing me up?' What, is it too much for him?" the Kyuubi scoffed.

"It's not his cup of tea," Temari responded sarcastically. "But it gives me a reason to let you out of your room, so be finished meditating by then."

"_Here that, blondie? Take good notes on the routes around the building. We'll reconvene later."_

'_What, tired already?'_

"_I'm using a lot of my own damn chakra to do this shit. Be thankful, and let me take a nap now…"_

'_Thanks, Kyuubi.'_

Naruto moved to the front of the body's consciousness, and then jumped up from his 'meditative' position, stretching his arms and legs. "I'm ready to go whenever you are, Temari!"

"That's 'Miss Temari' to you, twerp," she said with a laugh as she walked off. "I'll be back in a while."

* * *

"Wake up," Kankarou said, prodding at Shino's sleeping form. Shino mumbled something unintelligible back, and rolled away. "What was that?" Kankarou asked.

"I said, 'You have already eaten; let me sleep,'" Shino repeated himself a little louder before rolling himself further underneath the blankets.

"Yeah, well, the people who practically own my ass are coming for a visit tomorrow… which could be anywhere from four hours from now to sixteen hours from now, going on vampire time, and you need to be ready to prance around by then. Up!"

Kankarou pulled away the blankets and moved to grab his shoulder, but as soon as he touched him, bugs enveloped his hands. "Ugh!" Kankarou said before shaking them off. Shino pulled the blankets back over himself.

"Look, this is good for you. You're getting a nice, long…" Kankarou paused, "You know what? You're fucking _pouty_, that's what you are! I'm so tired of… I will kick your ass if you don't get up _now_!"

"I can see why you have accidentally killed so many victims. I feel _dizzy_," Shino murmured from the blankets.

Kankarou sighed. "Look. I'll numb you for the next five feedings, at _least_, if you just do this for me. And you get to take a nice, long bath with Shikamaru and Naruto."

Shino finally sat up, pushing the blankets off. He moved for his glasses and the makeshift headband he'd made from his pillowcase. Kankarou snatched them quickly. "But, in return, no glasses, no headband, and… you have to leave the bugs behind."

Shino let out a groan. "Why?"

"You're smart. You'll figure it out soon enough." Kankarou tucked the glasses and band into his clothes, and then asked, "How does the second layer thing work? I mean, should I give you privacy, do you want to do it when you're taking a bath, or…?"

"I'll be done shedding it in a few minutes, and then I'll go to the bath."

"Fine. I'll be back in five minutes."

* * *

Temari slid into Shikamaru's room, holding three different shirts. Shikamaru was sitting in the middle of the barren room, staring down at the table in front of him. On the table were chess pieces arranged in the middle of a game. "Stand up," Temari commanded.

"I hate playing myself," Shikamaru said, rubbing at his chin. "I can't make any headway, because I already know what I'm thinking. What would you do from here?"

"I don't… Move that rook forward a few places, probably. Stand _up_."

"I see… so then, in a few moves, you could capture my bishop and put me into a checkmate…" Shikamaru said after a minute of thought.

"I won't say this again. Stand up; I need to see how these look on you," she tossed two of the shirts on the bed, holding up one of them.

"What am I getting all dressed up for?" he asked warily.

"The guys who rule Suna from afar are coming in to appraise how we're doing. It's traditional to present our victims along with whatever we've done with the compound."

"That's troublesome for me. I'm in the middle of a chess game, and it takes forever to play by myself."

"Just stand up!"

"I mean, better than doing nothing, but it's almost as boring as reading all day. After a while, it's still just the same thing over and _over_…"

Temari smacked a hand to her face in frustration. "Look, I don't have time for this right now. I still need to make sure that the compound is up to par, and I have to get both you and Naruto dressed and bathed. I just need to see what color looks best on you, so that when you get out of the bath, you can get dressed."

"Brown."

"Not brown. You're not a deer anymore, Nara." She glared at him. "Brown is too… Well, the people who are visiting won't appreciate it much. I'll play chess with you when they leave, how's that?"

Shikamaru stood up and looked at the shirts. "I think the dark red shirt would look best. Orange? Was that really an option?"

"No, _that_ is for Naruto," she said and held up the shirt to his chest. "Yeah, dark red it is. She looked at him, tilted her head, before pulling his ponytail down and ruffling his hair back into shape. "No, you look gay. Keep it tied up." She tossed the rubber band at him, and motioned for him to follow her. "To the baths!"

Shikamaru followed behind her in silence as she walked down the hall and stopped at a door. She knocked on it a few times before going, "Naruto? Ready?" She opened the door, and Naruto walked through.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto's face lit up when he saw him.

"I'm relieved to see you're still alive," Shikamaru said, half-sarcastically. "… You really should, um, wash your neck when we get there. It's kind of…"

Temari sighed. "Gaara is a messy eater, I guess. Are you feeling okay, Naruto? Not too dizzy or weak?"

"No, I'm fine," Naruto replied.

"This way," Temari motioned them forward. Naruto and Shikamaru followed in silence, not sure of what to speak about. They didn't have much to talk about, aside from being fed on, and that was hard to bring up.

As they were walking through the hallways, they met up with Kankarou, who was heading to Shino's room. "He needed a few minutes to, uh, shed his skin."

"What?" Naruto jumped forward out of shock. "Like… like a snake?"

"More like a bug. He's leaving his bugs in his room for the meeting," Kankarou explained. He turned to the left and opened a door, before screaming out, "Oh, holy shit!"

Naruto leaned into the doorway to see what was so scary. Bugs were covering every surface, excluding Shino, who now appeared slightly shorter and even paler than before, if being paler was possible. In the corner of his room was a huge, shapeless, bug-covered mass – Shino's skin.

"I'm ready," he mumbled. As he walked out of the room, he saw Naruto and Shikamaru. "I'm glad to see that you two are well. Are you two dealing with the situation well?"

"More or less," Naruto growled out slightly.

"It's troublesome. You?"

Shino glanced at Kankarou. He said, "I agree with the both of you," before striding forward in the direction that Temari was pointing.

They walked for a few more minutes before they arrived at a large door marked, "BATHS." Kankarou slid the door open, and after walking down another long hallway, they reached a locker room. Bath towels, supplies, lockers, and robes were hung and set everywhere, as if prepared to wash a hundred people, rather than just three.

"We'll be back in an hour. Put _everything_ you're wearing now in that basket over there. When we come back, we'll have your outfits and we'll do whatever we can with your hair. I'm actually kind of glad Kankarou didn't pick a girl this time—"

"I'm not gay!" Kankarou screamed out, as if the comment had been a jab at his sexuality.

"Because then we wouldn't have to deal with their _makeup_ or really _long hair_," Temari bit out.

"Oh. Sorry. I'm practicing for, uh, Deidara and Sasori."

"Right. We'll leave you guys to it, then."

* * *

The bath was practically an indoor hot spring, large enough to accommodate at least twenty people at once. They each picked their favorite scents from the available arsenal of hair-care products, though all of the scents were too feminine for them. Shino had some floral scent; Shikamaru had a sweet, spicy scent; and Naruto had chosen a strawberry scented shampoo.

They all scrubbed themselves quickly in silence, understanding that they all felt somewhat dirty after having been fed on for the past week and a half. They had bathed in between them being chosen and now, but always alone and in a small facility complete with lukewarm showers and only bar soap. Now, they had body wash, almost scalding water, and a 'bathtub' large enough to swim in.

When they had finished actually cleaning themselves, Shikamaru leaned back and mumbled, "All of this is so troublesome."

"I miss Konoha," Naruto agreed, his voice exaggerated into the whine of a small kid. "And my team."

"I miss my best friend and my teacher," Shikamaru sighed. "I was just becoming a good leader, and then I'm suddenly recruited as vampire fodder."

"How long do you guys spend recovering from being fed on? It takes me _forever_," Naruto sunk down into the water and began blowing bubbles.

"It takes me an hour or so, but Temari heals me up well enough, so I can't complain too much."

"Kankarou takes a lot, so I need a few hours, but I'm in good condition after a nap."

"I still feel tired when Gaara goes to feed on me again. And damn, it hurts! If it wasn't for…" he looked at them pointedly. He knew that they knew about the Kyuubi, but he didn't want anyone to overhear, just in case, "I'd probably have died by now."

"Your shoulder is scarred up," Shino pointed out.

"Jeez, even with… It scars?"

"Naruto, you need to be careful around him. Seriously. What do you guys do during the day?" Shikamaru asked, leaning against the concrete siding of the hot tub.

"I read," Shino sat, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "And sometimes listen to Kankarou speak. There was a good reason that his selection process was listening to him while he fights; he does _not_ want to shut up."

"Sleep, until Gaara gets hungry. Well, and talk to… when I can. And Temari keeps me company, sometimes."

"I pretty much play chess and read. Temari doesn't spend any time with me at all. Why does she spend time with _you_ and not me? I'm her victim."

"You sound jealous," Shino pointed out simply as he scrubbed at his skin again. It was rare for him to walk around without his second layer on, and he felt doubly-naked, not to mention his real skin felt strange without bugs crawling over it.

"I get bored easily, that's all. I'm just wondering why she picked me based on my attitude, when she wasn't going to spend any time with me either way."

"I wish I could _do_ stuff again. I'm used to always moving; now I'm too tired to do anything at _all_."

They sat in silence for a moment. "Hey. If we were still in Konoha, who would you guys want to date?" Naruto wanted to change the subject. The more they talked, the more Naruto realized what a shit deal he had gotten.

"I think… Well, someone who wasn't troublesome. Ino? Too troublesome. And definitely _not_ Sakura. Maybe Hinata or Tenten…"

"Ch, Sakura. Definitely Sakura. She's _so_ pretty." There was a moment of silence. "Shino? What about you? Don't tell me you didn't like _anyone_."

Shino looked at Naruto in a 'are you sure you want to pursue this?' way. "I did, but I do not wish to speak of it."

"Hinata, right? It's not surprising," Shikamaru put his hand on his shoulder and rotated his arm, as if working out kinks.

"What's with the two of you? Hinata is a nice kid and all, but…" The two of them stared at Naruto as if he were an idiot. "What?"

Shino sighed. "Hinata was practically obsessed with being noticed by you, Naruto."

"Yeah, any idiot could see that," Shikamaru added.

"_Told you."_

"You stay out of it!" Naruto screamed. Shikamaru and Shino shared a confused look, but Naruto ignored it. "Look, I had too much stuff going on to—"

A knock sounded at the door. "Cover up, boys, I'm coming in!" The three of them hopped out of the tub and pulled robes around themselves.

Temari rushed in, checking them all to make sure they were adequately cleaned. When she was sure that they were scrubbed clean, she handed them all a towel for their hair and led them to the locker room, where Kankarou was standing holding out there different outfits.

"Burnt orange and black for Naruto; burgundy and charcoal brown for Shikamaru; navy blue and khaki for Shino. Shikamaru, use this for your hair. Naruto, keep your hair flat-ish, but not nerdy flat. Shino—"

"Hair down, no spiking it up. And don't button your shirt up all the way," Kankarou cut in.

Temari rubbed her eyes, and then with an annoyed huff, stormed out of the locker room to get herself ready. Kankarou followed close behind. "What?" he cried after his sister as he left.

After the door had been closed for a few seconds, Shino said, "I think he's trying to feminize me."

"As long as he didn't pack lingerie with your outfit, I don't think we have to worry _too_ much. It's probably all for appearances," Shikamaru said as he pulled his pants on.

"Well, at least Temari didn't pick out _gay_ clothes for us, right Shikamaru?" Naruto asked with a laugh. "Oh, wait, shit, I think these pants are too tight…" Naruto groaned as he pulled them on.

Shikamaru snickered. "Correction. Those are supposed to be tight, and she didn't pick out gay clothes for _me_. Those are skinny jeans, Naruto."

"… Perfect. Always wanted to wear girl's pants."

**A/N - Okay, so yeah, I snuck a Japanese joke in there. BAD PUN FROM A LANGUAGE YOU DON'T ACTUALLY SPEAK TIME.  
**


	9. Chapter 8

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Eight – The True Rulers of Suna_

Temari walked into the locker room, this time without bothering to knock. She was arranging her hair as she walked in, her movements showing that she was an in an extreme hurry. "They're here. Already," she scoffed the word bitterly. "'Tomorrow,' my ass, they should have just said in five hours…"

She looked over them, staring them each down, checking every inch of their outfits. She pulled out a comb and used it to flatten Naruto's hair as much as she could, combed through Shikamaru's ponytail, and then ruffled Shino's hair. "You all look very good," she finally said. "Kankarou and I have discussed it, and since you three haven't been talking about how to escape, we'll let you bathe together every week or so. It might keep you all from getting antsy. That, plus what we've already promised you, should be incentive enough to behave, right?"

"You guys got _promised_ something? What are you getting out of it?" Naruto demanded, suddenly enraged. Yes, he was really dealt a _shit _deal. What, it wasn't enough that he'd been hated ever since he was young, just because of the Kyuubi? And once he was finally _appreciated_, he gets thrown into a whole new level of shit? What kind of fate was that?

"A chess partner," Shikamaru said, pointing vaguely at Temari. "Playing by myself is boring."

"I was promised painless feedings."

"What the hell? What do I get? I don't even have anything to _do_ during the fucking day! I just sit around talking to myself, hoping someone will stop by to say 'hi!'"

"Naruto, you don't… Come here," Temari grabbed his shoulder firmly, steering him towards the back of the locker room. "You don't understand what position you're in," she finally finished. She looked in the direction of Shino and Shikamaru, her hands hovering over the buttons to her shirt. When she was positive that the other two boys weren't going to peek, she unbuttoned her shirt around her stomach.

When she opened her shirt, Naruto saw the worst scar he'd ever seen. It had smoothed over in the past few centuries, and it was now a bright-white color. It was easy to compare it to the surrounding tanned skin, the color and shape sticking out horribly. When Naruto had gotten a good look at it, she quickly buttoned her shirt again, self-conscious of her major blemish.

"He did this to me the night I was turned. When he was still human, he nearly killed his own sister because of his bloodlust." She bit her lip. "You don't know what he's done to his victims. He's disemboweled them, decapitated them, and _literally _made them into pulp. He's going to be very territorial for a while, but soon, he'll only care when it comes time for feedings. He'll never numb the pain of feeding, and he'll never heal you after feeding."

She placed her hands on each of his shoulders, gave him a sad smile, and said, "I've been trying to keep things as easy as possible on you. I've done that with all of his victims, and I've failed each time. You just need to… Listen to me. I've had _centuries_ of experience. And you've never even spoken to my brother. Trust me. Now, let's go, before Sasori decides to relocate us or something."

Temari led the three of the ninjas down so many halls that Naruto nearly lost count of them all. There were sharp turns, rounding hallways, rooms that led to other hallways, staircases that led up, and other staircases that they walked back down.

'_Sorry, Kyuubi. It looks like there isn't a way to __**navigate**__ my ass out of here.'_

The Kyuubi was still asleep. Naruto desperately wished that that was not the case, as he could have used the Kyuubi's words of reassurance. Or at least, composed advice. His feet were starting to hurt, his legs were chafing, and he felt generally worried for his own sake. What kind of a monster could skewer their own _sister_, anyways?

'_The kind that owns my ass now, that's what,'_ he thought to himself bitterly. He'd never been a pessimist; he'd always looked on the bright side of things, and was generally pleasant about even the worst of circumstances. But there was a line between worst-case scenario and hell. And he was in hell.

Finally, they arrived at the room Temari wanted them. Inside, Kankarou was sitting at a table beside Gaara, across from four men. One of the men had short, chopped red hair and a dead look in his eyes; the one sitting beside him had long, flowing blond hair and a nearly maniac smirk; on the other side of the rectangular table sat a blue man with gills on the side of his face; and beside him, Naruto saw someone that reminded him intensely of Sasuke, so much so that Naruto hated him on sight.

"Here are our victims for the next five years. There hasn't been a problem with any of them yet," Kankarou motioned at them. "Now, as to the budget for—"

"Wait! Wait, let's play the game!" the blond jumped in, his hair falling over his eyes. "Let's see, un… The brown-haired guy is definitely Temari's. He's got right attitude. Right?"

"Yes. His name is Shikamaru Nara, of Konoha. An excellent strategist, and was one of the most promising young Captains of his class," Temari said the introduction as if she were proud of her catch.

"Yeah, un. Let's see… The blond kid… he's got a _lot_ of chakra, un. He's got to be Gaara's," he looked at Gaara for confirmation, but Gaara simply glared ahead.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Temari introduced.

"That leaves the pretty boy as Kankarou's," the red-haired vampire added. "I always knew I'd rubbed off on him; his male victims get prettier and prettier every five years. Now, Deidara, if you've finished your games?"

"C'mon, Sasori… Let me take a look at Kankarou's… he just _smells_ good, even from over here," Deidara moved to go inspect Shino, but Sasori grabbed his shoulder and slammed him down into his seat.

"Deidara," Sasori said firmly. "You are bound to me for eternity. Sit and do as I say."

The blue man chuckled. "Pissing off your master isn't a good idea, Deidara."

"Temari, thank you for presenting the victims. They've been approved; please return them to their rooms to retire."

Temari bowed slightly, and then motioned for the three victims to follow her. As they were leaving, Naruto's eyes locked with Gaara's; he couldn't have been sure, but Gaara seemed to be glaring into his soul, as if thinking of viciously murdering him at that precise moment.

As soon as they were out of ear-shot, Shikamaru let out a groan of annoyance. "_That_ was anti-climatic and troublesome. We spent three times as long getting ready and getting there than we were there for."

"It's important, nevertheless. If any of you had acted out of line, the three of us would have appeared weak. If you'd appeared frightened and beaten, we would have appeared to have too much," she held up her hands and made an air-quotes motion, "'Free time' on our hands."

"What was the deal with Deidara?" Shino asked.

"Deidara? Oh, he has a thing for pretty males. Always has, as far as I'm concerned. He picks on Kankarou about sexuality because Kankarou likes to _hide_—"

"No, not about that," Shino said, waving a hand in front of himself, as if to swat off that conversation. "No, I mean, what was his relationship to Sasori?"

"Other than 'lover,' I'm assuming…?" Temari looked at him and waited for Shino to nod before continuing. "Vampires can either have temporary victims or eternal victims; that is, they can either drink from humans or drink from another vampire. The second option only works if you've turned them yourselves or been turned by them, however."

"So… if you were to turn Shikamaru, you could just drink from each other forever instead of needing people?" Naruto needed clarification. It sounded like a good idea, for each vampire to turn just one more person and then never have to kill again.

"Yeah, basically. The Akatsuki – the group of people who run Suna from the background – are made of partnered pairs of members. Most of these pairs are vampires and have been together for at least a half century. The 'youngest' is Deidara, so he's still a bit… I guess he wants variety, since he's only had Sasori, really."

"Why don't you just turn someone? Getting victims every five years must be troublesome…"

"We have our reasons. Why? Do you want to stay here forever, and never go back to Konoha?" Temari glared at him, as if daring him to say _anything_.

He averted his eyes from her heated gaze, and instead stared at the wall closest to him. "Not particularly, but hell, it's not like _we_ have too much of a say in any of this."

"Well, that's the problem with the Akatsuki," Temari half-whispered, "They just pick the strongest people they can find, and then turn them whether they want to be turned or not. And if you can only have one eternal victim; for some reason, if a vampire tries to ingest multiple strains of vampire blood, they hemorrhage and die because their body rejects the second strain. So, if we ever turn someone, we want to be sure. Now, Shino, in your room."

"_How much of the compound did you get mapped out, kid?" _the Kyuubi asked nearly an hour after Naruto had returned to his room. He couldn't find his old clothes, and though he was exhausted, he wasn't even going to bother sleeping; soon, Gaara would be demanding a feeding.

'_Not much… there's a _lot_ of passageways. I lost count after the twentieth hallway. I can tell you how to get from here to the seventh floor conference room, but other than that, there isn't much I can do…'_

"_I should have figured… Well, never mind that, we'll figure it out eventually."_

Naruto heard footsteps, and he could practically feel murderous intent radiating in his direction. _'Hey, Kyuubi? Ready to do that blood thing again or what?'_ Naruto didn't bother waiting for an answer; the Kyuubi didn't like speaking to Naruto when Gaara was around, out of pure paranoia.

The door creaked open, and Gaara stepped in, his eyes already dark violet with bloodlust. In the middle of feeding, Naruto had realized that Gaara's eyes slowly went from sky blue to violet to blood red.

Naruto sat up and began unbuttoning his shirt; though he wasn't really attached to it, it was silkier and more dressy than he usually liked, but he was hoping to keep it safe from Gaara's ravages. Before he could pull it off or at least get it out of the way, Gaara was grabbing hold of Naruto's shoulders and digging his fingernails into the soft skin between Naruto's neck and shoulder.

"You clean up nice," Gaara growled out, before shoving him down. "Not as nice as you'd look covered in blood, though…" he hissed into Naruto's ear, before raking his fangs from below his earlobe to the base of his neck. His grip tightened as his fangs sunk in, his fangs driving so deep and at such an angle that they were only a centimeter from piercing his windpipe.

Naruto let out a small scream of pain, before his yell was abruptly cut off by his own loss of breath. His yell ended in a squeak, until all he had left was the driving pain of Gaara's fangs and his nails. His hands clutched at the covers beneath him, wringing the sheets as if he would be spared by gripping the cloth.

Gaara took deep, hungry gulps, his grip tightening on Naruto with each gulp. Naruto's vision started swimming, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. The only thing that kept him from falling unconscious was the pure _agony_ of the bite.

"_Wait a second…"_ the Kyuubi's voice sounded both right beside Naruto and far away, as if echoing in a cave. _"I know! This kid… he's the container for the Ichibi!"_

"Ichi…bi?" Naruto whispered in confusion. He'd meant to think it, but in his current state, it had slipped.

Gaara froze mid-gulp, as if he wasn't sure what he'd heard. Slowly, he released his grip on Naruto and pulled his fangs out of his neck. Naruto nearly passed out, but Gaara quickly gripped his cheeks between his two forefingers and squeezed them into his jawbone. "What was that?"

"_Idiot!" _the Kyuubi cursed in his head, the echoing sound bouncing from the front of his mind to the back, over and over again. _"Just… hell, just ask him if he's the demon container for the Ichibi."_

"You're the demon container… for the Ichibi… aren't you?" Naruto whispered, barely getting the words out due to exhaustion and the fingers pressed into his cheeks.

Gaara's eyes widened, and his grip tightened. "How did you _know_?" he asked, shaking Naruto's head from side to side as he spoke.

Naruto mumbled something incoherent before slumping back into the bed. "_Shit_," Gaara growled out. He'd never cared about something his victim… or victims… had ever said before, but this was important. He looked down at Naruto's neck – the wound had been deep enough that, though Gaara had taken a lot, there was a good amount of blood oozing from the wound.

He pressed his hands over the wound, and willed the blood jutsu to heal Naruto. He'd never actually healed someone before, as there had never been any reason for him to, but he needed to know how Naruto knew what he did.

"_Just let him die,"_ the familiar voice coaxed in the back of his mind. _"He's unimportant; if he studied Suna far enough back, then it's not a surprise that he knows about us. He's an orphan like you; he probably wants me for himself so that he's not alone, just like you used to be."_

"Mother… Please… help me heal him… I need to know _why_ he knows. I need to k-know how… there are other demons, Mommy… maybe he has one of them? Or something stronger? What if he can kill us, Mom? What if…?"

"_Shh, shh, sweetie, calm down,"_ the voice sounded much too gruff to use such endearments, but it used them often anyways. _"Just promise me that you'll kill him by your own hands like a good boy. Just drinking isn't enough, you know… death… we need death, or we'll die… we need it…"_

"Yes, Mom, I promise. I'll kill him myself, and I'll… please, Mom, how do I do this?" Gaara was becoming hysterical. He was mentally unstable, and parts of his mind were stuck at the age when he'd found out about the Ichibi – age five.

"_Just do as I say…"_ the voice coaxed.

"Your go," Shikamaru said, rubbing at the area on his neck that Temari favored. It didn't hurt during the feedings, but after a while, his neck would get somewhat stiff and sore.

"Look, I don't know why we're even doing this," Temari muttered in annoyance, moving her bishop four spots diagonally. "It's not like you have a fighting chance; I've been playing this since it was _invented_."

"Good, then I won't have to give you a handicap; experience doesn't work against a natural genius," he stared down at the pieces, before closing his eyes, as if concentrating very hard. He then folded his hands into an oval-like shape, his fingers in his lap and touching their corresponding fingers on the opposite hand.

"What are you…?" when Shikamaru didn't answer, Temari just allowed him to do it, until he finally seemed to be enlightened. He opened his eyes, and made a move.

After that, every time Temari made a move, Shikamaru would make one right behind her, as if he didn't need to think about it any longer. After fifteen moves in this manner, Shikamaru knocked over her last knight with his bishop, and pronounced, "Checkmate."

"Huh. So, what, that pose earlier was just a concentration thing?" She was in awe, more or less. Very few people in Suna had ever managed to beat her on their fifth try, much less their first.

"More or less. It freaks people out sometimes, because they confuse it with a jutsu. It's just a kind of meditation," Shikamaru was already setting up for another game.

"Meditation? What's with Leaf ninjas and meditation? Naruto was just doing that the other day."

"… Naruto?" Shikamaru let out a few chuckles. "_That_ guy meditates? Yeah, right, and Shino is going to run around with pesticide, screaming, 'Get them off, get them off!'"

Temari blinked a few times in surprise. Was there something more to Naruto that he'd been letting on? There was the meditation, the fact that he hadn't died of blood loss yet, and not to mention the absolutely _massive_ chakra signature he was putting off.

"Shikamaru, hold out your palm."

Kankarou came in the room after seeing the Akatsuki members off in an unusually good mood. While Temari mostly took care of the 'domestic affairs,' and Gaara was mostly the obstacle that Temari and Kankarou had to tread carefully around, Kankarou was the main diplomat. He managed to keep their budget at a decent level, enough money to keep their servants fed and paid well.

Not to mention, but while it didn't _really_ matter, Sasori and Deidara both seemed to have silently agreed that Kankarou's victim was the most attractive of the three. And that was a notch on his belt to begin with.

When he entered the room, Shino was sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing only the pants to his previous outfit. He was rubbing his eyes, as if he had a migraine, and the bugs had disappeared.

"What, did they already remake your skin?" Kankarou took note that his second skin, the one he'd shed earlier, was already gone.

"Yes," Shino responded shortly. Kankarou could tell in that one syllable that he was annoyed with him for some reason – but that wasn't enough to get Kankarou out of his good mood.

"What's wrong?" he asked, only half-caring for the answer. He just wanted to eat and get a good nap in…

"Nothing that concerns you," Shino replied before lying down. "If you're going to feed, feed, and then leave."

Okay, there was something so wrong that Shino wasn't even going to resist? What was wrong with him?

"I can taste emotions in your blood," a lie, "So, if you're angry, it _does_ concern me. It makes the blood taste too bitter for my liking."

"Tch, I'm angry every time you feed."

"For every five seconds of your silence, you lose a meal."

"…" he waited almost exactly four seconds, before sitting up and explaining. "Temari informed us that you can turn a person into a vampire, and feed from them for however long."

"Yeah, one person," Kankarou agreed. "And? What, they don't have that Vampire 101 class anymore?"

"That's the _Grass_, not the _Leaf_," Shino scoffed. "And we don't deal with vampires enough to need that kind of thing."

"So? What about it bothers you?"

"Don't you get it?" Shino glared at him. "You guys have ruined our lives and our careers; Naruto probably won't live to see twenty, and when Shikamaru and I get out of here, all of our friends will have forgotten about us and left us behind. You've _ruined_ our lives. So, why haven't you turned someone so that you can end this torture? Or is that what you enjoy?"

"That's the most I've ever heard you talk," Kankarou stated, before adding, "I just haven't. I don't want to turn someone out of convenience; forgive me if I actually want to _like_ the person I deal with forever. This life was forced on me; I wouldn't wish it on anyone else."

"Yeah, right," Shino spat out the words.

Kankarou grabbed Shino's arm, and squeezed it tightly. "I could make your life _so_ much worse, but no, I wait on you _hand and foot_; I provide you with food, and all I ask in return is that you do the same. What's wrong with that?"

Shino didn't flinch at how hard Kankarou was grabbing his arm, or move to pull it away. All he did was stare into Kankarou's eyes with a dead look, and say, "I don't take away everything you care about as well as blood. That's the difference. I don't care if you numb me or not, just feed and get the hell out."

Kankarou shoved Shino against the bed and bit into his neck. He placed his hand just below the puncture wound and numbed Shino anyways; a promise was a promise. He could feel bugs crawling against his fangs, around and around in circles like ants angered by a child prodding a stick into their territory. He drank nearly half as much as he usually did, healed the wound, and left.

"Is he dead, Mom?" Gaara whispered, staring at Naruto. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving; he felt like he had definitely failed to save his victim. They'd completely switched sides from the earlier argument – Gaara no longer wanted Naruto alive, but the Ichibi had realized the importance of Naruto's information.

"_No, look, he's breathing. That means he's sleeping; I know you're not familiar with the concept of 'sleep,' but that's what he's doing. He's exhausted; you'll have to be very careful with him for a while, or he will die, and we'll never know."_

"But _Mom_, I want to know _now_," Gaara whined. "Can't I just kill him? Is knowing so important?"

"_Do __**not**__ kill him, Gaara, or I will leave you alone. I will leave you alone, and you'll never be loved by anyone else. Do as I say."_

"Yes, Mom…"

"No," Shikamaru said the words with such conviction that Temari was almost taken aback. "Shino mentioned how Kankarou did the truth test. And I can't betray Naruto's trust."

Temari's eyes widened for a second, as if she were shocked that she was hearing what he was saying. "Well, it doesn't matter what _you_ want; you're going to do as I say," she slammed her palm down on the table on the word 'going,' as if to drive her point further.

"You'll have to force me, anyways," he said, rolling his eyes and looking in the direction of the wall. There was no way for him to stop her from learning anything he knew; resisting wouldn't stop her, and it would just cause problems for him. "But I'd like to know what you told him in the locker room, in return."

"Nothing that's important. Give me your damn palm," she thrust out her hand, and he shrugged. He handed his hand to her, knowing she'd resort to physical violence if needed.

She raised his palm to her mouth and bit the middle, drawing blood from the smallest pin-sized holes in his skin. She put her hand over the wound, and began to channel her chakra in the same manner Kankarou had done during his test.

"What is your name?" she asked, testing it first.

"Tell me what you told Naruto in the locker room," he said calmly.

"Name?"

"Locker room."

She glared at him. "Naruto's name?"

"Ramen."

"What?"

"His favorite food is ramen. Mine is sushi. I don't know about Shino's favorite food, but he did like Hinata, apparently. She seems like a nice girl, but I never really…"

She threw his hand down in disgust. "What the fuck is going on?"

He rubbed the sore spot in the middle of his palm. "I told you I wouldn't tell you," he smirked. "It was a gamble, but I figured out the trick. That blood jutsu doesn't make us say the truth; it makes us spout out whatever we thought. So if I kept my thoughts unrelated to what you were saying, I could easily get around the 'truth' jutsu. We could, however," he leaned in and gave her a smug look, "settle for that last deal, though. Naruto would understand."

Temari growled out in annoyance, before standing up and storming towards the door.

Just as Shikamaru had thought – whatever Temari had told Naruto was deeply personal and was also _probably_ related to an emotionally traumatic event.

"Hey," Shikamaru spouted out as Temari went to open the door. "Is it the reason why you haven't turned anyone?" Temari gave him a dark look as she opened the door.

"Check," Shikamaru said, just loud enough for Temari to hear, as she slammed the door behind her.


	10. Chapter 9

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Nine – Back in Konoha_

Kakashi searched the Leaf high and low, but could find no sign of his apprentice. He'd asked everyone, from Sakura Haruno to Chouji Akimichi whether they'd seen Sasuke, but everyone responded in the negative. In fact, Lee and Neji had been the last ones to see him, and that had been during their mission two days ago.

He'd tentatively checked around the Uchiha household, searched the forest thoroughly, but still could find no sign of his student.

After nearly half a day's search, he finally gave it up. He was probably engaged in some trying training; he'd asked Tsunade for his three vacation days all at once.

He didn't have a mission for that day, so he decided to surprise Iruka. It'd been a while since he'd seen Iruka at school… it was going to be lunch time soon, and he knew who'd appreciate some dango for lunch.

Usually, it would have been ramen, but Kakashi was afraid to remind him. Iruka had hit the final stage of grief; he'd been in shock for the first few days after Naruto left, then angry, then depressed, and finally, he'd reached acceptance.

Or at least, that's where Kakashi hoped he was at.

* * *

"Chouji, I'm going to the hospital," Ino announced after a morning full of sparring. "I left your lunch underneath the third tree; I'm eating there."

"Sure, Ino!" Chouji responded almost happily before he continued to practice chakra precision. He'd lost a lot of weight initially, but once Ino talked to Chouji's dad through Chouji, Chouza had agreed to keep him from grabbing gratuitous amounts of food pills. Chouza was still very annoyed with his son for going against the Akimichi way; diets were considered a taboo, since so many of their jutsu required the extra fat for jutsu.

"Oh, Ino…" Chouji said before Ino could leave, pausing in channeling chakra. "Tell Sakura that I said hi, and thanks for last time."

Ino smiled a little. She'd never noticed, but Chouji was always thinking of others; he knew how depressed Sakura had been lately, because Ino was always talking about it with him. He also knew that outright complements and pitying statements did nothing for Sakura. But comments about her work were always loved, and typically put Sakura in a better mood.

"Sure, Chouji. I'll tell her," she gave a small wave, before launching up into the trees and rushing off to the Hospital, the center of Konoha.

* * *

Hinata bit her bottom lip as she knocked on the door of the Aburame household. For the past week, she'd been asking everyone that _could_ have known Shino _if_ they'd known him. Sadly, the ones that knew him best were indeed herself and Kurenai, and together, they didn't know anything at all.

All of Hinata's knowledge of Shino amounted to the fact that he likes bugs, he was usually silent and composed, he cared a lot for his comrades, and that he and Kiba didn't get along well.

That much was pathetic, considering she'd known him for three years, and had worked with him (as well as Kiba, Akamaru, and Kurenai) exclusively for that long.

She took in a deep breath as she heard soft, ascending footsteps. The door opened, revealing Shibi Aburame, Shino's father. He seemed to be surprised by Hinata's arrival. "The Hyuuga heir?" he asked.

"Yes," she bowed slightly. "I was… one of Shino's teammates. I wanted to ask you a few questions about him, if you're not busy and I'm not bothering you."

He paused for a second, his gaze fixed on Hinata. Hinata was beginning to get nervous, when he turned to the side and called out, "Put on a pot of tea. We have company. Please," he stepped back, and held the door open for her.

She took off her shoes at the front entrance and stepped up into the hallway after him. He motioned for her to follow him down the east hallway. The house wasn't as large as the Hyuuga family's, but it was large. It was decorated in a similar manner, mostly traditional Japanese with tatami mats and sliding doors. Every table was low and instead of chairs, there were cushions.

He led her to a small conference room and he sat down at the table. "Please sit," he said, realizing that Hinata was waiting for his offer. A woman wearing a brown robe appeared at the door as Hinata sat, carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups. She silently poured Hinata and Shibi a cup of tea before leaving the teapot on the table and leaving the room.

"Now," Shibi said after he took his first sip, "What was it that you wanted to know about my son?"

"I-I… I didn't really get the… ch-chance to know him before… and… I wanted to… well, learn everything."

"My son spoke of his teammates often, you most of all. He gave me weekly reports on how much the Hyuuga heir had grown from a stuttering, weak girl to a strong, brave kunoichi. Please, relax; this meeting is highly unorthodox, but it is not unwanted."

Hinata grabbed the cup with slightly shaking hands and took a deep sip, feeling almost instantly relaxed. "I guess my first question is… what is it like, having the bugs? When did he get them? What… what did he have to go through?"

"If you had been a member of the Branch family instead of the Main family, you would not have asked," Shibi stated it as if it were a theory, "Because you would have, yourself, already gone through so much for your clan. The Aburame clan… we are a lot different than the Hyuuga clan. _Everyone_ goes through the same thing; it is not something we discuss or consider a bad thing. But, very well, I will give you the same talk I gave Shino when he was seven."

Shibi folded his hands, and leaned in. "Members of the Aburame clan are renowned for their strength and abilities, not simply in that we carry the bugs, but we make the decision ourselves. At the age of seven, we give them a year to decide whether or not they will take on the bugs; if they do not, they are no longer an Aburame. But, should they choose to accept their new training, we begin it as soon as they agree."

He took another sip of his tea. "Shino agreed as soon as we'd finished talking," he said as if reminiscing, before continuing, "Anyways, as soon as they agree, we put them in a container carry the bugs we use. The bugs take a while to acclimate to someone's chakra; the bugs they train with ultimately become their first colony. So, we put them in a container of bugs, and have them channel chakra to the bugs every day, as well as feeding them their natural food, assorted leaves from Konoha's trees."

"I've never seen Shino's bugs eat leaves," Hinata said, wrapping her hands around her empty cup.

Shibi poured her another cup of tea. "Well, we feed them leaves until they are so used to chakra that chakra becomes all they will eat. It is at that point that we have the bugs colonize the young Aburame; the Aburame spends a week or so covered in bugs as they colonize, building a second skin for them to live under. Are you too squeamish for this?"

Hinata had been gulping for the entire part of that last bit of explanation, mostly because she couldn't imagine going through that at age seven. "No, I am not," she responded. "I've seen worse up-close; but I was wondering, is that why he was out so often in our first year of school?"

"Yes, the colonization does affect schoolwork a great deal. In fact, I have always believed my son to be more adept than Sasuke Uchiha; but his grades suffer every time he has a growth spurt."

"How else does the colonization affect him?"

"Have you ever noticed how thin we Aburame are?" Shibi pulled his sleeve down, and held out his arm. "Keep in mind, the second layer is a quarter-inch thick; our bugs need a place to live, after all. So my arm is actually much thinner than it appears. He wrapped long fingers around his wrist, and showed Hinata the diameter. It was just slightly larger than her own.

"While the bugs take away from our body, they give us a great deal more. For one, they are our main means of fighting. For another, like the Nara clan with their deer, we use our bugs and what they produce for ointments, elixirs, and poisons. Most female Aburame members end up in _that_ field, rather than as ninja, so they do not have to colonize the bugs." He pulled his sleeve up and poured himself another cup.

"I've heard… I've heard that everyone in the Aburame clan is emotionless. Is that true?" Hinata felt extremely nervous about that question; after all, vicious rumors circulated about _every_ clan, and Hinata felt absolutely _enraged_ when they were about her own clan. For instance, many Konoha citizens still believe that the Main family abuses the Branch family's children, on top of marking them with the seal.

"Not at all. We are just heavily guarded. Few in the Aburame clan find people that accept them as they are; most people, whether they know it or not, are so disgusted by the bugs that, in the past, many Aburame were abused by peers because they did not understand the beauty of our jutsu and our sacrifice. For this, we Aburame are raised to be even more emotionless than the average ninja. Sadly, however, many Aburame were also not as… connected to their comrades as they should have been."

Shibi looked down at his cup, as if averting Hinata's gaze, though Hinata couldn't see past his glasses. "I admit to considering the sacrifice of people I have worked with in order to complete a mission; I never have, but it is something that most Aburame contemplate at one point or another. Some even act upon the thought. However, Shino, I believe _honestly_ cared for his comrades, even if he knew that few of them would never care for _him_, simply because his jutsu disgusts them."

"I… I wish I would have known your son better, before he left…" Hinata felt like crying, but she refused to.

"Young Hyuuga," Shibi's voice had deepened to gain her attention, "You have made me happier than you can imagine. Thank you, for caring enough for Shino to ask me of him. I am honored that my son had the pleasure of knowing someone as kind as you." Behind his collar, Hinata could see his smile. However, she could not see behind his glasses, where tears were welling up in his eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I have a report to make to the Hokage… and there appears to be another visitor outside."

* * *

Ino walked past the receptionist with a quick smile-and-wave, knowing she was _supposed _to sign in herself, but also knowing that the receptionist wouldn't mind doing it for her, and that she wouldn't be penalized for it. She walked through the hallways and down into the Research and Development part of the building, where Sakura and she often studied together in one of their smaller, more private tutoring rooms.

She got to their usual room and stopped at the door, listening at it intently. She couldn't feel any chakra, but that more often meant that Sakura was reading more than anything. And then she heard it – the sound of sobbing. Ino let out a sigh. She'd been expecting this for quite some time now.

Without bothering to knock, Ino slipped into the room. Sakura was bent over a large, open book and surrounded by other similar volumes. Every book had something to do with blood or vampirism, and Sakura was crying over the largest book on vampirism.

"Oh, hey, Ino," Sakura greeted her as if she weren't crying at the moment. "What are you doing here?"

Ino let out another sigh. "Sakura, this is good. You're reacting. I cried for fucking _hours_ when I heard Shikamaru was chosen. Chouji went on a weird super-diet. This is perfectly _normal_."

"Don't pretend to know how I feel," Sakura didn't say the words with any vehemence, but instead, just kind of whispered them.

"What do you mean? Of course I know how you feel; the same exact thing happened to me at the same exact time," Ino was ready to slap Sakura; what made her think that her pain was worse than Ino's?

"No, I don't mean about that… I didn't even see him off. I didn't treat him any differently when I heard he was chosen; I just kept drilling it into his head that he'd never get to date me, and that he'd never be anything more than an idiot," she pressed her eyes into her palm. "I was so sure that no one would want him… I treated him like _shit_, Ino."

"Karma is a bitch," Ino agreed. Sakura glared out of the corner of her eye. Before she could say anything, Ino continued. "All the shit I said to Chouji about him being a fat ass, even though it was part of his clan's training? You know what he did after Shikamaru left?" Sakura nodded reluctantly; Chouji's under-eating eventually led to Sakura having to pump his stomach and force feed him through an I.V. "I feel like I'm responsible."

"Ino… That wasn't even close to being your fault."

"Yeah? Well, neither was Naruto being picked. I'm sure he doesn't think of you badly for it; Sasuke did tell him that you passed out at the hospital."

"I meant to go… but…" Ino grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into a sideways hug before she could finish the statement.

"I know, Ino. I know. And so does he; I'm sure he does. I heard Sasuke tell him."

"And Sasuke!" Sakura pulled out the hug. "Sasuke! I haven't seen him in weeks! He's avoiding me, or something! We haven't gone on a mission together in _ages_, and now he's taking off extra days to train? What does he need time off to train for? Ugh!"

"Who knows? Maybe he just needs time to get things straight in his mind."

* * *

Hinata walked out of the Aburame compound, shocked to find Kiba and Akamaru waiting for her. Kiba was waiting with his hands in his jacket pocket, a nervous look on his face. Akamaru seemed to be almost smug about something.

"Kiba? What are you doing here?" Shibi asked from the doorway.

"I'm just, uh, I'm just here to pick Hinata up. Kurenai said for us to meet up with her so that we can discuss something team training related." Kiba looked down at the ground, and then back up at Shibi. "I'm sorry about your son. He… he looked out for us with all of his heart. He was a great comrade."

Shibi nodded before walking back into his own house; the two of them didn't know it, but both of his son's teammates visiting was almost too much for him to bear. It touched him in a way that he just _hadn't_ been since Shino left.

"Kiba, Kurenai didn't really say for us to meet us, did she?" Hinata asked with a sigh. She knew Kurenai; if she'd asked at this time of day, that being dusk, she would have come herself.

"Well, if she had, I would have knocked. I didn't want to interrupt," Kiba gave a small shrug. "So… how about I buy you some dinner and you can tell me about our teammate?"

"He's not our teammate anymore," Hinata said, a tinge of melancholy to her voice. The sad sound to her voice made Kiba want to draw her into his arms… but he didn't.

Instead, he said, "He'll always be our teammate. And hell, I heard he has a pretty good chance of coming back. There are only two relatively nice vampires out of the group… he got one of them. Keep faith, Hinata. And I'm not just saying all of this; I really believe he'll come back." Kiba ruffled the hair on the back of his head. "And hell, what are we going to do if we moped around the entire time he was gone? He'd be offended that we didn't move forward, you know," Kiba let out a small laugh.

The words were more comforting than a hug. Tears began welling up in Hinata's eyes, but she refused to shed them. "Well… how about ramen?"

Kiba looked down. No one had addressed the fact that Hinata's long time obsession had also been taken; chances were, Hinata was depressed about that, too, and didn't want to seem cruel for pining over him rather than her own teammate.

"Yeah, but we're getting take-out," Kiba looked down again. He hated it when she stared into their eyes as he was talking about awkward subjects – he felt like she could read his soul. "And maybe we can talk about Naruto, too. I… you know, _everyone_ knows you admire him."

Hinata seemed taken aback, but when the initial shock of Kiba bringing up Naruto wore off, tears streaked down her cheeks. "I… I… w-wish I'd t-told him… Do… do you think… _he'll_ be okay?"

Kiba had overheard Kurenai and Asuma talking. Chances were, Naruto might _already_ be dead. But he couldn't tell Hinata that… but at the same time, he couldn't give her false hope. "Well… you know how there were two kind-_ish_ vampires? He… didn't get one of them… But you know, Naruto's stronger than the other two. We'll have to see in five years, won't we?"

Hinata stumbled down the walkway and up to Kiba. Her head slammed into his chest, an act that Kiba knew to be extremely out-of-character. After all, Hinata was extremely modest and uncomfortable with anything that broke strict laws (as instilled in her by Hyuuga upbringing) of personal space.

"Yeah," her voice broke as she talked into his chest. "I guess so."

Kiba wrapped an arm around her side and one around her head, stroking clawed fingers through her long hair. Without thinking, he kissed the top of her head.

After a moment, Hinata pulled away, wiped at her eyes, and began walking to the center of Konoha. Kiba and Akamaru followed, just a step or two behind her. As they got closer and closer to Ichiraku, Hinata was thinking more and more about Naruto.

Akamaru nudged her hand, and offered her a sympathetic look. "It's okay, boy," she said, smiling at him, "I'm fine."

Kiba almost believed it for a second – and then he noticed her shaking hand. No, she wasn't… but then again, being fine was overrated for a ninja.

* * *

On the far edge of Konoha's forest, far enough to require a day's journey, even for a Leaf ninja, Sasuke waited by a tree marked with a silver shuriken. As soon as the sun had set, he suddenly felt a strong chakra presence. A grey-haired ninja with glasses appeared from the shadows, as if sudden materializing from the darkness.

"Sasuke. Do you have an answer?"

"Tell Orochimaru I'm ready to join him when he's ready to come collect me," Sasuke said, already ready to start the journey back to Konoha.

"I see. Is that all you have to say?"

"No. Tell him to hurry up. Being here is making me _sick_."

Kabuto smirked into the side of his cloak. "Duly noted. I'll deliver the message. Be ready to be collected in a week. We'll send our best group to come get you; try your best to make sure no one follows you."


	11. Chapter 10

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Ten – Temptation of the Serpent_

Sasuke wasn't a typical ninja who was leaving his village permanently. Even the four who thought that they _might_ be leaving their village (though three of them really did end up leaving) walked through the village and said goodbye to everyone they knew. Sasuke, however, felt like the village was a rotting, infected blister that needed to be cut from his body.

He couldn't wait to leave.

True, he hadn't always felt that way. In fact, the only reason he suddenly made the decision to leave was that nothing was left for him in Konoha.

His one driving force, the best friend and rival that was pushing him to greatness, was as good as dead to him now.

He'd actually been trying to make the decision for nearly two years now. And it had all started at the Chunin exams he'd taken at twelve…

* * *

"Sasuke!" Naruto growled out, covered in blood. They were in the middle of the second Chunin exam, and in the middle of the Forest of Death, they were desperately trying to hold onto their one scroll – the Earth scroll. "Stop being such a pussy! Do you want to go home and tell Kakashi, 'Oh, sorry, I wimped out?' Grow some balls!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Are you _fucking_ kidding me, you idiot? This guy is going to…!" On the down side, Naruto was stupid. The person they were fighting was much, _much_ stronger than they were; he or she could already summon snakes large enough to devour a hundred Naruto clones.

That, and they'd already been fighting for a good bit now. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura fought tooth-and-nail against a few guys from the… the Sound, whatever that was, and they had managed to steal a _fake_ Heaven scroll.

"Well. How about this? Either give up the scroll, or I kill the two of you. Which do you prefer?" Something about the… person's eyes disconcerted Sasuke. The eyes were serpentine, the body feminine, but the voice rough and scratchy like a male's.

That, and he could sense an extreme intent to kill exuding from the person.

"Neither!" Naruto yelled. "We'll fight you for it!"

"Idiot! Just stay—"

"Out of this!" the enemy finished. A gigantic snake appeared from behind Naruto, out of nowhere and without either of their noticing.

Naruto managed to get a few milliseconds of staring before the snake opened its gigantic maw and swallowed him whole.

"Let him go!" Sasuke cried out, the will to fight suddenly brought back. He was out of chakra; there were no ifs, ands, or buts around that. But he could _fight_ until he was killed, damn it. He lunged at the enemy, throwing kunai, shuriken, punches, kicks, and whatever else he could manage.

They were parried, blocked, and countered as easily as a Jonin could fight off an elementary school student. "Please, Sasuke," the voice hissed around Sasuke's mind. The slithering noise of their voice was so disturbing to Sasuke that he felt like he was going to be molested. "You're an Uchiha, aren't you?" the voice was sickly sweet.

"And that's _why_," he accentuated with a punch, "I can't give _up_!" Sasuke made an attempt to roundhouse kick his enemy in the face, but the other ninja simply grabbed his leg, flipped him upwards, and then slammed him against the tree.

"I'll come right out and say it," the person hissed into his ear, "I'm not going to kill you, or your friends, because I want to _collect _you… and the Sharingan. My representative will be… contacting you every so often, until you say yes. You don't have to make up your mind now, or even soon. I have enough time," he bared a set of fangs, "to spare."

He finished by biting Sasuke in the neck, fangs protruding deep into his flesh. The bite was not a normal vampire bite, in that it was meant to inject venom rather than draw blood. Sasuke's veins began to burning – he had no idea what this bastard had done to him.

The person pulled away, and Sasuke could feel himself growing weaker and weaker. "This is just a taste of the power I can give you… When you are ready to accept the full dosage, come to the Sound seeking Orochimaru."

The last thing Sasuke saw as he lost consciousness was Orochimaru swallowing their Earth scroll whole.

And none of it would have happened if Naruto hadn't initiated the battle to begin with.

* * *

Since then, Sasuke had used the power Orochimaru had given him only when absolutely necessary. It nearly doubled his chakra, enhanced his Sharingan, increased his fighting abilities, and gave him the means of accomplishing more than he could have ever done without it at his age.

But it came with a price. For one, he was in intense pain for days after each usage. For another, each use led him craving more and more power, as if he were trying methamphetamine for the first… and second… and third… and fourth time.

He could still count off each time he'd used it. The first was during the Third Chunin exam, and he'd used it against Naruto. The second was to kill a rogue vampire who was threatening to kill Sakura. The third was against a Jonin from the Cloud. The fourth was against some missing-nin from the Rain.

Every time but the first, it had resulted in the death of his opponent.

And every time made him consider going to the Sound more and more, until he was just holding himself back out of pure principal. There were still plenty of things that the Leaf had to offer him.

Well, more like one. Naruto. Before he could push forward, he had to beat the _shit_ out of the blond underdog that had somehow jumped to his pace.

But since he was gone now…

He was thinking about everything as he stared at the wall opposite from his bed.

They'd been close brothers, or as close as a seven-year-old and a sixteen-year-old could be. Itachi trained Sasuke when he had time, though more often than not pushed the training to 'next time.' Sasuke adored his brother and looked up to him like most people looked up to the Hokage Mountain.

Sasuke's father, however, seemed to have some deep hatred for his eldest son. Sasuke had no idea what it concerned, but everyone in his family evaded the subject.

And so, Sasuke had grown up in such an environment, learning the Uchiha-style fire jutsu as well as taijutsu, excelling in school, and growing into a strong, young ninja.

Until one night, when he came home from school, he saw his brother drenched in the blood of the members of the Uchiha, the red liquid spilling from the corners of his mouth.

The last thing Sasuke remembered was the vision of an orange-haired, heavily pierced man closing in on him, his eyes comparable to a rock that had landed in a puddle of blood.

The image still haunted him to this day. The vampire with the rippled, blood-red eyes...

He felt a sudden chakra presence. Sasuke was always on his guard, even as he slept in his own bed, in the middle of his own village; as a ninja, such things were necessary.

"Kabuto," Sasuke stated simply. As he did, he saw the long, silvery hair appear in his window, followed by a pale forehead, glasses, and finally, a smirk.

"Sasuke." Kabuto paused, before continuing. "Your escorts are waiting just outside of Konoha. My job is to sneak you out of the village. We don't want to start a war after all, do we?" Kabuto laughed slightly, an almost maniac chuckle, as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Sasuke didn't move or reply.

"You are having second thoughts, aren't you?" Kabuto let out a sigh. "Most do. It takes a very special type of runaway to feel completely unattached from the place they grew up."

Sasuke still didn't respond. Kabuto continued speaking, not taking notice.

"It is because of the Kyuubi child, is it not? He was… well. Interesting, and strong enough to almost worry Orochimaru. But didn't that container end up in the Sand? Chances are, he'll either die, be turned vampire, or be _much_ stronger for the experience."

Again, still no response.

"You know, if the boy survives, he'll come back either stronger _physically_, or stronger _emotionally_ than you. That Genma guy… I have information on him from before his years as a victim. He's a much, _much_ stronger ninja now. How do you suppose Naruto will have grown? And that growth will be absolutely _exponential_ if he manages to get _turned…_"

Sasuke stopped staring at the wall, and shifted his gaze to Kabuto.

"That, and you have a vendetta against your older brother, Itachi Uchiha, correct? Itachi is a vampire, and it is rare that someone does not use the strength of a vampire to defeat a vampire."

Kabuto paused, knowing that he'd already convinced Sasuke.

"And we are offering you the strength of the vampire, as well as specialized training. Konoha has nothing for you but people who will never understand you, and never appreciate your strength. If you want to leave, leave now, and stop making Orochimaru wait."

Sasuke stood from his bed and moved to the window. "Let's go."

* * *

"Iruka?" Kakashi asked as he opened the window. Without waiting to be asked in, he climbed inside and glanced around the bedroom. It was already midnight, and Iruka wasn't asleep? That was strange in itself.

He had a bad feeling. He was getting the same anxious feeling he'd gotten when Iruka had had his major breakdown…

Kakashi walked through the main hallway and to the front room to see Iruka on the couch, staring at a class picture from Naruto's year. He wasn't crying, he wasn't yelling, he was just staring.

"You know…" Iruka began before Kakashi could ask. "I regret not telling Naruto about the two of us. If you have a mind to, you can tell Sasuke and Sakura about us." Iruka leaned forward and set the picture back on his coffee table, a foot away from Naruto's headband.

"I don't even know why I didn't want him to know. It wasn't like I thought he'd hate me for dating his teacher… I didn't even think he'd have a problem with the two of us being gay."

"I have wondered the same thing since our one-month mark," Kakashi said jokingly, though trying to do his best not to say it in an 'I-told-you-so' manner. He strode over to Iruka and pulled him into a quick, still-masked kiss. In all honesty, Kakashi had come to Iruka's place that night seeking much more than just a peck on the lips, but having sex wasn't his current goal.

When Kakashi pulled back, he pulled his mask down and his headband off slowly, as opposed to his usual quick movements. "I think I have an answer, though." He said as he tossed his headband onto the coffee table. "You didn't want Naruto to think that he was second place in your mind. I understand that… you didn't want Naruto to feel less loved by you because of me. Naruto had so few people who actually cared for him that every person mattered, especially if he was 'Number One on your list,' so to speak."

Iruka gave a small smile and looked away. "That sounds right…"

"I love you," Kakashi changed the subject quickly. Iruka looked back at him in shock. Kakashi said such things so rarely that hearing him admit to it out loud meant a _lot_.

Iruka, after getting over the surprise of the act, replied, "I love you, too," much easier than Kakashi had said the words.

Kakashi lunged for Iruka's lips, pulling Iruka into a deep kiss and pushing him into the arm of the couch all at once. Kakashi, as if keeping him from leaving, put his arms on either side of Iruka and pressed his body to Iruka's, pushing his tongue further and further into his mouth.

Kakashi's hands began to wander up and down Iruka's clothed body, when he suddenly sensed something familiar. He pulled back, looking at Iruka but not focusing on him at all.

"Something wrong?" Iruka asked confusedly. Kakashi was more often than not the one pressing for sex, so for him to pause in the middle of foreplay was a bit out-of-character…

"No, I suppose not," the disturbance had disappeared quickly, and Kakashi could easily chalk it up to being overly paranoid. He moved to kiss Iruka again, but Iruka stopped him. "What?"

"Can we move to the bed?"

"… What, not feeling adventurous?" Kakashi pressed his forehead to Iruka headband and ground his hips against Iruka.

"Well, adventure is always fun, but you're not the one that has to deal with back pain in the morning. Come on, up, let's go."

"Yes, sir," Kakashi said sarcastically, pulling away reluctantly before heading for the bedroom. But it was worth it, since he was 'using his time wisely' and stripping as he walked.

Iruka pulled off his headband, having forgotten about it until Kakashi touched his forehead to it. He went to just toss it on the table, before he noticed how Kakashi's had landed. It was just slightly on top of the right side of Naruto's and in front of the class picture.

With a small, nostalgic smile, he put his headband in the same position on the left side of Naruto's headband, and then followed his boyfriend to the bedroom.

* * *

Sasuke was on his way out of the village when he saw Sakura walking home from the hospital. She was dragging her feet and mumbling, something that she could often be seen doing after late nights working with patients.

Sakura, even in the middle of her half-asleep stupor, noticed Sasuke and Kabuto. Her eyes widened at the sight of Kabuto. "What… what are you doing with Sasuke?"

"Take care of this, Sasuke," Kabuto growled out before jumping onto the wall that surrounded Konoha.

"Sakura…" Sasuke tried to sound pleasant, but he was struggling with it. "Late night?" he asked.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked, striding up to Sasuke.

As if she had any influence on his decision.

"Look, Sasuke, if this is… if this is something you're doing because of Naruto… Naruto leaving, then… I'm here for you, Sasuke, you know that. I love you!"

So typically Sakura. Hitting on him? Using the word 'leaving' instead of a word that made it seem as if Naruto had had a choice? Trying to 'comfort' him? It was the perfect set of classic Sakura-esque actions.

"Sakura," now that he didn't feel even slightly remorseful, he could act perfectly. He used the Flash Step and, in a millisecond, was behind her instead of in front of her. "Thank you," he whispered into her ear as if she'd helped him.

Then he knocked her out, and with a movement too fast for normal eyes to follow, disappeared into the forest.

* * *

Tayuya stood glaring at Jirobo, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "What the _fuck_ is your problem, fat-ass?"

"That's just it," he sighed. "Ladies shouldn't use such language. And 'Where the hell are those fucking dickheads' isn't a sentence that should come from a woman's mouth."

"I concur with Jirobo," Kabuto said as he appeared, Sasuke in tow. "But I think foul language is… unnecessary to begin with. Sasuke?"

"I don't give a damn about language."

"No, I meant…" Kabuto sighed. "Are you ready?"

"… To…?"

"Start your transformation into a vampire," Kabuto explained as he fished a pill out of his side pocket. It was a dark pill, the same color as Sasuke's cursed seal mark. "Take once daily, along with gratuitous amounts of blood. Sakon?"

Sakon groaned. "Come _on_, I have to keep blood for two! Get Jirobo or Kidomaru."

"I was the last one to open up a vein for this; it's Kidomaru's turn."

"Oi! Just because I have four arms, doesn't mean that I can—"

"What the _hell_ is this, a fucking comedy act?" Tayuya growled out before storming up to Sasuke. She pulled out a kunai and sliced it from her wrist and halfway up to her elbow. "Drink," she said, shoving it in Sasuke's direction.

Sasuke, knowing what being a vampire entailed, didn't blanch at the sight of the blood. He popped the pill to the back of his mouth, knelt down, and began drinking the blood from her wrist as best as he could from his awkward angle. Blood spilt down into the grassy ground and around his lips, dripping down to the tips of her fingers.

After around three minutes of Sasuke drinking, Kabuto finally pulled him back. Tayuya was growing faint, though she was forcing herself to stay standing and not appear weak. Kabuto dragged a glowing blue finger across her wound, and in seconds, the cut was healed.

"Let's go. And Kidomaru, since you're so intent on getting special treatment for having four arms, carry Tayuya until she's well enough to walk."

"I can walk just _fucking_ fine…" she mumbled as she took a shaky step forward.

"Fine, I didn't want to carry her ass anyways," Kidomaru said.

As he moved to jump into the trees, Tayuya said, "Well, since you offered so goddamn nicely, I think I'll accept. I'm feeling kind of tired, anyhow."

Sasuke stepped to move forward, but as soon as he attempted to move, a burning pain exploded in his chest. "I'm… I'm dying," he groaned out.

"Jirobo, get Sasuke, would you?" Kabuto sighed. "You'll be just fine… here, have some of this," Kabuto said as he put an ether-covered cloth against Sasuke's mouth, knocking him out cold. "Let's get a move on; Orochimaru expected us back with his new prize yesterday."

**A/N: Okay, I don't know Sasuke and Itachi's age difference. I made a guess. Doesn't matter much, anyways. Just sayin'. Please review! =3**


	12. Chapter 11

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter Eleven – Snowball Effect_

It had been a day, and Naruto was still unconscious. Gaara was getting more and more nervous about the situation on the whole; he kept bouncing back and forth between thinking that he should just let Naruto die, to wanting Naruto to live, to not caring, and then starting the cycle all over again.

His cycle was generally to stare at him for five minutes straight, leave for a half hour, and then return to the room.

What he didn't know was that Naruto had been awake for the past three cycles, talking to the Kyuubi and doing his best to ignore Gaara.

'_Kyuubi, what should I do? He wants to know how I know about him…'_

"_I've been thinking about it. When you're mentally prepared, tell him you're him that you're not going to say anything unless he makes a deal with you."_

'… _I thought we were friends.'_

"_We're not."_

'_Well. I thought you didn't __**want**__ me dead, at the very least,'_ Naruto was almost hurt by the blatant rejection that the Kyuubi dealt out – only _almost_, because it hadn't changed from the first time he had spoken to the Kyuubi.

"_I don't want you dead. But the Ichibi needs information from us… and to do that, he's going to keep Gaara from killing you, no matter what you say. Just… don't insult his mother."_

'_Insult his mother?'_

"_Look, trust me, I knew Ichibi __**way**__ back in the day. His mom abandoned him when he was little or something, so you can bet your ass that he'd give his host the same kind of mother complex."_

''_Kay… I'll talk to him next time he comes in, then.'_

Next time turned out to be five minutes from that time. After a few seconds of Gaara's hard stare, Naruto slowly blinked his eyes open, as if he was just waking up.

"What… Gaara?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes. "Are you already hungry again? I'm getting kind of hungry, so if you could…"

"Shut up," Gaara spat out the command with such force that Naruto was almost worried. There was a second of tense silence, and then Gaara began talking again. "What do you know about the Ichibi?"

"I…" Naruto coughed a little. "Not much. Just that it's a demon, and you're its container."

"… _How_ did you know about the Ichibi?"

Naruto shook his head slowly. "I can't answer."

In a flash of movement that Naruto's eyes couldn't quite follow, Gaara had leapt onto the bed. He grabbed Naruto around the throat with his slightly clawed hand, eyes blazing with an inner fire that Naruto felt could scorch him.

"And why _not_?"

"Because," Naruto choked, "I can't… _breathe_." Gaara released his grip, but kept the intense stare. "That's much better," Naruto said, nodding slightly. He grabbed the glass of lukewarm water off of the nightstand beside him, gulped a good deal of it down, and then let out a breath.

"I'm _waiting_," Gaara was grinding his teeth.

"Tell you what…" Naruto said, looking at the wall.

'_Here we go! Now, just ask him for painless feedings and to be healed after them. Permanently. That way, we can conserve my chakra, and bust out of here sooner. All this healing is __**seriously**__ draining our reserve.'_

"I'll make you a deal. If you tell me more about you and the Ichibi… and I don't mean just how you got him, I mean how you talk to each other, how often he controls you, everything like that, I'll tell you how I know."

Gaara glared at him darkly. "Tell _you_ what. _You_ tell me how you know about the Ichibi, and _I'll_… Well, I'll make your death painless. Relatively," Gaara let out a low growl. "Or we can do it my way. The fun way. The way that gets your blood all over the room, and makes you scream like your brain is being ripped out of your head."

"I'd rather die," Naruto stated simply. "I can handle the pain; I can handle the bleeding. But what I _can't_ handle is not knowing why you're such a psycho."

'_Naruto…' _the Kyuubi growled in his disapproving tone. It was rare for the Kyuubi to speak at _all_ in front of Gaara, but the Kyuubi was so annoyed the fact that Naruto had ignored his advice for the first time that he was forgoing his usual reserved attitude.

Gaara's eyes intensified, if that was possible at all. Naruto could practically _feel_ the hatred radiating from the red-headed boy, the heat in his gaze almost as damning as Hellfire. But Naruto stayed firm in the strained silence. Finally, Gaara's eyes seemed to soften, as if someone was calming him down.

They got softer and softer, until he appeared nearly _brain-dead_. Finally, he whispered, "Yes, Mother, I understand…" and pulled a knife out of one of his pockets. He slicked through his palm before grabbing Naruto's hand roughly and doing the same.

Gaara then pressed the two palms together and began channeling chakra through his hand and into Naruto's. It felt tingly at first, but then Naruto felt like he was getting pulled out to sea, as if a tide was dragging him out into the abyss.

And then his consciousness was pulled into Gaara's mind.

* * *

"So, I got really annoyed with him, and Itachi and Sasori had to keep me from practically _killing _the guy… They would have let me, since he'd insulted me so horribly, if he wasn't Sasori's damn eternal victim… Hey, Shino, are you listening?"

Shino was in hell. He was frustrated at a guy who couldn't pick up _any_ of the signals he was sending out. Instead of leaving him the _hell_ alone, he was prattling on about some drama that had occurred a century ago.

"Yes, the guy from the Mist decided to attack you with some kind of sword, and…"

"Shino, I told you about that yesterday," Kankarou's eyes narrowed. Shino let out a sigh of relief. Maybe he was finally getting somewhere. The worst part about everything was that Shino couldn't _stop_ listening. Some of the stories were truly amusing or interesting, while others were just annoying… but Shino, no matter who was speaking to him, had been trained to listen with utmost attentiveness.

That trait had its pros and cons, just like any other trait. For instance, because he was constantly listening, he had become very observant, and knew the most miniscule of details of everyone around him. But, on the other hand, those very skills were what had gotten him the position of Kankarou's victim.

"I suppose I just wasn't interested," the words felt dead in his mouth, and as soon as he said them, he knew that Kankarou would know of his lie. Of course he knew what Kankarou was talking about; he was talking about Deidara, and the first time they'd met.

Kankarou decided to call Shino's bluff. "You never ignore me. I don't know why, but somehow, you were wired to listen to everyone's every word. That means… you want to piss me off," Kankarou rubbed the bridge of his nose. "What's wrong?"

"…"

"Not this again."

"…"

"I will hurt you if need be."

"… A ninja does not fear pain."

Kankarou glared darkly at him, but an old adage came to mind, and he decided to change strategies. _'You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, huh?'_ Kankarou's face changed from a dark look into an almost scary smirk. Kankarou had been sitting at the desk that was provided for Shino, and Shino was on the bed, one leg curled up against his body, the other stretched across the bed, as if to keep Kankarou from sitting there.

Kankarou crawled onto the bed, closer and closer to Shino, one knee on either side of the stretched-out leg. He kept the devilish smirk on his face, pushing himself closer and closer to Shino until Shino had backed up against the wall, and Kankarou was looming over him.

"Well… I'm _not_ hungry right now… and since you don't seem to want to listen to me, I guess we could find… _other_ things to do for now," Kankarou gave Shino a devilish smirk, and for once, Shino prayed for pain.

* * *

"Where the hell am I?" Naruto was surrounded in darkness, his voice echoing off of the walls of the room as if he was in a cavern of some sort. As soon as he said that, his surroundings suddenly lit up; he was standing in a dingy hallway, with walls made of dry, flaking plaster.

It looked a lot like the times when the Kyuubi would drag Naruto into his own sub consciousness, so that they could speak face-to-face, mostly for training purposes.

'_Kyuu…?'_ Naruto thought. Instead of the words being silent, however, they were projected as if he'd actually said the word, echoing just as his actual words did.

"You're in my mind," Gaara said, appearing out of nowhere, his arms crossed across his chest. His voice was devoid of his usual underlying rage, but it still didn't sound _normal_… It sounded almost dead.

"Your… mind? You can do that?"

Gaara made a gesture, as if he was saying, 'Why else would you be here?'

"So… you're going to tell me what having the Ichibi is like."

"No," Gaara shook his head slowly, but then said, "I'm going to show you."

And then, as if a movie was playing in front of the two of them, a large hovering image appeared in front of them. Gaara stared at it as if he was looking past it, while Naruto focused on the scene with an extreme amount of focus.

_There was a small child with red hair and sky blue eyes staring teary-eyed at the screen, his fingers interlaced with each other as if he were extremely nervous. "You're a freak," a deep voice boomed, "You deserve to die after you killed your mother. But you don't have the common decency to do even that!" _

_A kunai was sent flying to the boy's face, but was blocked at the last second by a strong wall of sand._

"_I'm sorry, Daddy…"_

"_Don't call me that! I fathered no demon spawn! Yashamaru! Get this child and take him out of my sight!" the man spat before turning and storming away, putting as much distance between himself and Gaara as he could._

The scene changed.

_The little boy, now slightly older, attempted to slice his wrists open. 'No…' a pretty, feminine voice seemed to whisper from inside of Gaara. 'No, sweetie,' and sand blocked the knife from cutting his wrists. 'This is your mother speaking. I was in Heaven, but you need someone to love you… I'm here now, honey. Your own personal, guardian angel…'_

"_Gaara! What are you doing? Don't ever do that again!" Yashamaru rushed at Gaara, pulling the knife away from him._

"_I… I just wanted to know what it feels like…" Gaara whimpered, more to his mother than to his uncle._

"…" _his uncle wordlessly took the knife before slicing his own palm open. "Gaara. Never do something like that again. I love you… I don't want you to even try to hurt yourself. Are we understood?"_

"_Yashamaru… what is love, anyways?"_

"… _Have you ever felt a pain in your chest? Like your heart has just dropped, and you can't breathe anymore? You feel it at the thought of losing someone…"_

"_Yeah… and it hurts. A lot," Gaara clutched at his chest. "But… what hurts more? Getting hurt, or… this?" he clutched his chest again._

_Wordlessly, Yashamaru grasped the knife and sliced his palm open._

"_Yashamaru?" He rushed to his uncle's side, slightly interested in the bloodshed, but more so worried for the one __**live**__ person who cared for him._

"_No, see, Gaara? I'd much rather feel __**this**__ than emotional pain. This… this is nothing compared to losing someone close to you."_

"_I… I see…" Gaara nodded, as if he was confirming something to himself. "Hold on," Gaara turned to the side, opening the drawer closest to him. He pulled out a long, cloth bandage, and began wrapping it around his uncle's hand. "There! Better!"_

"_You're a good kid, Gaara," Yashamaru said with a smile, ruffling his hair. "Don't ever change."_

"What happened? You were such a… well, I wouldn't say _normal_, but you were a cute kid, given the situation," Naruto said, turning to Gaara in between the scene changes.

"…" Gaara said nothing, but continued glaring forward at the screen.

_A flash of a bomb, combined with kunai flying at Gaara's face. His sand shield jumping forward to protect him just in time. The bomb exploding around his dome of safety. Sand crumbling inward. The sand shield falling down just enough to show his assailant._

_Yashamaru._

"Oh, god, Gaara, I'm sorry…" Naruto said, even as the scene kept playing.

"_Yashamaru… why? I thought you loved me…"_

"_How could I love the person that killed my sister? It was _her _I loved, not you!" Yashamaru screamed with his dying breaths. "No one… could ever… love a monster… like…"_

_And he was dead._

"Gaara! Most people aren't like that!" Naruto jumped forward, grabbing Gaara by the shirt and shaking him back and forth. "Seriously! Your uncle… he was an _ass_! It wasn't your… it wasn't your fault…"

Naruto was shocked. He was **crying** already, of all things.

"You wanted to see my past. Keep watching, or give away your secret now," Gaara said, shoving Naruto away with ease and indifference.

And then Naruto saw Gaara killing countless ninjas, mostly those who had mocked him or were prejudiced against him for being a container. He saw Gaara watching his father from the shadows, contempt and rage radiating from the boy from the time Yashamaru died to the time he was turned.

And then he saw Gaara being turned, and heard the voice of the Ichibi, egging him towards the vampire's blood. He saw Gaara nearly kill Temari and was reminded of her horrendous scar.

He witnessed centuries of bloodshed, and a descent deeper and deeper into darkness, a descent that was like falling into a bottomless pit. He saw him torture, maim, and eventually, brutally murder each of his victims.

And yet, somehow, something kept him from hating Gaara.

The knowledge that, had he been mistreated as Gaara had been, he'd be the exact same.

"Enough," Gaara said, when the scenes of Gaara first biting Naruto began playing. "You know everything now," he said, and the screen disappeared.

And suddenly, Naruto felt a _whooshing_ around him, and the world faded from the dark corners of Gaara's subconscious. And Naruto found himself on his bed, as if he hadn't moved.

"Now," Gaara growled.

And then Naruto heard something that he wished Gaara hadn't.

* * *

Naruto was still inside of Gaara's subconscious when Kankarou was trying to force information out of Shino. Kankarou was pressing himself closer and closer to Shino's face, and now their lips were nearly an inch away from each other's.

"Get away from me," Shino breathed out, careful to keep his lips drawn against his teeth as much as possible.

Kankarou stopped moving closer to Shino, and instead held his position. "You're too… bottled up. Come on, Shino, let me have it," Kankarou felt proud of his double entendre.

Without warning, bugs began crawling up from Shino's neck and to his face. They covered his and jaw first, then his lips, and then his other cheek. Kankarou didn't flinch or look surprised, disgusted, or put off in any way. He'd pretty much come to terms with Shino's insects, and he'd expected Shino to do this… but that didn't keep him from being annoyed with them.

He held out a finger, and after a moment, one of the bugs swarming over Shino's face happened to walk onto his finger. Kankarou pulled it back from Shino, and cut his other pointer finger on the fingernail of his thumb. He held that finger up to the bug, and when his finger was only an inch from the bug, he emanated a blood chakra that took the form of a small cloud of blood-colored fog.

The bug fell off of his finger, dead.

Shino's eyes widened in shock. He could make _pesticide_ using his blood jutsu?

"I could easily do that to all of your bugs… even the ones inside of you right now… but I won't. I suggest that you pull them in," he had stopped the façade of being sensual, and he was no longer overly-concerned. He was just serious, and was telling Shino how it was.

Shino obeyed, his protectiveness for his bugs overriding his self concern.

"Good. Now… do you want to be a good boy, and tell me what's wrong?" During his demonstration with the bugs, he'd sat down on Shino's chest, essentially straddling him. He didn't move to move out of the position, but instead was just sitting and waiting.

"Could you get _off_ first?" Shino's normal attitude had come back after the shock of Kankarou's 'pesticide' had worn off.

Wordlessly, Kankarou pulled his right leg to join his left leg, though he didn't move from the bed. Shino squirmed further away from him, sitting on the edge of the bed so that it would be harder to draw him into another intimate position.

"I can understand Temari," Shino's voice held restrained anger, and his volume was rising with each word. "She seems to have _some_ kind of commitment issue because of… _whatever_ happened to her. And Gaara? Gaara's crazy as _fuck_! He'll never be **sane** enough to _think_ of turning someone!"

Shino wasn't usually so stupid. But he was stressed, and he had just been in the most uncomfortable situation of his life. And Kankarou had a way of poking and prodding until everything came flooding out… which, in this case, was exactly what Shino needed… But perhaps it should have been done in such a way that Gaara, as well as Naruto, Temari, and Shikamaru, did not hear the whole ordeal.

* * *

Gaara moved from Naruto's room, leaving the door wide open and unlocked in his wake. His eyes glistened with the deepest blood red Naruto had ever seen… a red redder than blood.

"_Naruto! Here's your chance! Go, quickly! Temari and Kankarou are going to be too busy taking control of Gaara to keep you from leaving!"_

"I can't leave Shino to _die_," Naruto didn't bother restraining the words to his head. No one was listening.

"_Oh, the hell you can't! Go!"_

"Lend me some of your power, Kyuubi. I'll need it."

"_How many tails? Five? Six? The whole nine? I don't give a damn!"_

"Not nine. I need… control for this."

The Kyuubi could not read Naruto's mind, unless there was an intense emotion behind it. Naruto had been somewhat trained to hold in his emotions, and though he rarely used the ability, he was controlling them as best as he could now.

"_Fine. Eight. How's that?"_

Naruto had trained enough with the Kyuubi's powers to know what eight tails felt like. It was a surge of power, and a want to dominate _everything_ around you. He would pass out directly after using such a surge of power, but he would at least _maim_ the most powerful thing around him.

And that would be Gaara. Even amid the confusion, Gaara would still stand out in Naruto's crazed mind.

"_Yeah, good idea. Run as fast and as far as you can, get as hidden as you can, and slow down tail-by-tail… Then pass out in a good hiding spot."_

"Right," Naruto said. And with that, he felt the sudden surge of raw, animalistic power. He felt the chakra coursing through his body, the chakra forming an outer shell that gave him the appearance of a fox. He could feel the tails sprouting, his teeth growing, his voice changing…. Eventually, he could even feel the fox's skeletal system over his own body, and the smooth, hunter muscles of the fox.

His world was no longer in color. Instead, it was monochromatic – everything was in shades of red and red-orange.

When he gained the eighth tail, he flung himself forward, dashing to Shino's rescue.

"_Oi! Kid! Wrong way!" _

'_Shut the fuck up, you cowardly piece of shit," Naruto cursed at him._ He'd noticed that his thoughts got more and more violent, depending on how many tails he'd acquired. With just one tail, he was only a little more excitable than usual… but with eight? He was extremely bloodthirsty.

He rushed forward, running as fast as he could. The Kyuubi was growling and screaming at Naruto to turn around and just _escape_, but Naruto easily ignored the commands. Naruto wasn't, by any means, happy in his situation.

But he wasn't going to let one of the few people who had gotten him to accept it _die_. Sure, he hadn't always liked Shino. He hadn't even always liked Shikamaru, even though they talked nearly every day when they were still in Konoha. But now that they were in the same situations, he felt a stronger bond with them than he'd felt with even…

Sasuke. It'd been a while since Naruto had thought of him. But that wasn't important now.

What was important was that Kankarou was barely managing to hold Gaara's sand from grabbing a hold of Shino. Shino's bugs were everywhere, a flood of uncertain black energy. Gaara was flinging heavy groups of sand at large groups of bugs, squishing them with the sand as if the sand was a flyswatter. One of Kankarou's puppets was blocking some of the attacks, and Kankarou was even diving in front of some of the attacks to keep it from hitting Shino.

"Gaa… _ra_," Naruto seethed out, now on all fours and glaring at his vampire. Gaara's eyes shifted from Shino to Naruto, still a horrifying blood red. But it didn't matter, now – Naruto's eyes were almost the same color, but where Gaara's eyes were darker red, Naruto's were a blazing fire red.

Gaara's eyes narrowed into slits. "So… this is how you knew?" And with that, he flung his hand forward in Naruto's direction, sending sand hurtling towards him.

Naruto smirked. "That's nothing," he grumbled with the kind of voice that could make mountains shake. With a blast of pure, glowing red chakra, he easily deflected the sand that was hurtled at him. He whipped one of his chakra tails forward at Gaara, wrapping them around Gaara just as Gaara used the sand coffin.

Gaara attempted the Sand Shield, but Naruto easily broke through the dome. When Naruto's tails came into contact with Gaara's skin, his skin cracked and burst, a layer of sand peeling off of his body.

Gaara attempted to wrench away from Naruto's grip, but to no avail. Naruto had taken him completely by surprise; there had been no time to chance into the Ichibi, no time to use any sort of subduing blood jutsu… not to mention the fact that Gaara had no idea of how strong Naruto actually was.

And now, Naruto was choking Gaara, attempting to either put him in a sleeper hold or kill him… in his current state of mind, Naruto wasn't sure which.

"Let… go!" Gaara whined; panic was now flashing in his eyes, and he was trying to tear at the chakra mass to no avail.

And Naruto was reminded of the little boy who cried when his father had expressed his extreme disgust at him for being born a monster. The same little boy who cried when his uncle had died. The little boy who had been scorned his entire life.

Naruto released him, Gaara hitting the ground with a hollow _thunk_. Naruto's eyes lost their red sheen and became his usual bright blue again, before he fell forward, passing out from the exertion.

If he had chosen to run, he would have gotten far enough away to escape the vampires forever. But he had to save Shino.

Gaara looked at Naruto with shock, before disappearing from sight.

* * *

"You… okay?" Kankarou asked, nearly a full minute after everything had calmed down. Shino wasn't reacting to the situation, now that everything was over; he was just trying to calm his bugs down.

"I'm fine," Shino stated simply. Which was _not_ true. He was relatively sure he had a few bruised ribs, some scrapes here and there. Everything really was fine, except for the fact that it hurt to breathe.

"… 'Kay," Kankarou breathed out. "So… you were saying?"

"What?"

"Earlier. Why are you upset with me?" Kankarou slumped against the wall, brushing bugs and dirt off of his outfit.

"… Because I don't see why you couldn't become attached to someone enough to turn them," having seen the lengths Kankarou had gone to in order to protect him, he had decided that he might as well just put it out there.

"What do you mean? We've talked about this; I want to like the person that I turn."

"That's… understandable. But I understand Temari and Gaara having trouble finding someone to turn. They have… issues. But I can't see why you would."

Kankarou paused for a second. "Well," he finally said, after thinking it over, "I want the person I turn to want to be with me for a long time. And most people? Can't stand me 'chattering,' as one girl so sweetly put it."

"… There are worse things," Shino said as he slipped back in his room. He wanted to _sleep_.

"Huh. I suppose there are," Kankarou said with a small smile as he stood back up, and ambled over to Naruto. "For instance, you can be a brain-dead guy with a hero complex," he said, more to himself than to either Naruto (since he was unconscious) or Shino (since he was now in his room, and out of ear-shot). "But, thanks all the same," he said as he picked Naruto up and slung him over his shoulder.

He deserved to, at the very least, be unconscious in his bed.

* * *

"Check," Temari muttered.

"_I'll show you insane, you little bastard!"_ Gaara's screamed echoed through Shikamaru's room as the fight began.

"Should we…?" Shikamaru said, his focus shifting from the game.

"No," Temari said bluntly. "Let them work out their own damn mess. Now. Check," she repeated.

Shikamaru blocked her attack, and began a counterattack of his own.

"_Get away from him, Gaara! He didn't do anything!" _

"_Shit!"_

"_I'll rip your flesh off, shred by shred!"_

"Are you sure…?"

"Yes. Check," Temari said.

"You really ought to help," Shikamaru moved another piece. "Check," he said.

"Damn," Temari muttered before moving another piece.

"_Gaa… ra!"_ they heard a strange voice growl.

Temari finally looked perturbed. "Who is that?"

Shikamaru smirked. "That," he said as he moved his piece, "Would be Naruto. And now we have nothing to worry about. Checkmate… want to do another game?"

Temari looked at the door, and then at the chessboard. "Chess," she finally said, leaning against her arm, "would be a lot less troublesome than _that_ out there, even if I can't seem to win. Go ahead."


	13. Chapter ?

**And Darkness Prevails**

_Chapter ? – Akatsuki_

Young Sasori sat on his floor, manipulating a small doll with chakra. He couldn't remember much about his parents… just that they'd been killed by some _really_ strong people, that they were good ninjas, and that they both used puppet techniques.

His only strong memory of his parents was of his mother using the same doll he was playing with now to entertain him as a toddler. He'd been amused by the jumping and the dancing puppet. In reality, however, she also used her puppet ninjutsu to kill, poison, capture, and maim her enemies.

Until some rogue killed both of his parents. Even though it had happened to Sasori when he was quite young, he'd never fully gotten over it. Sure, he still had a loving grandmother to take care of him, but it wasn't the same.

As he played with the puppet, he heard a door creak open behind him. "Oh, Sasori… I see you've mastered the basics…" she was taken aback, as well she should be.

He wasn't even enrolled in elementary school, and he was already using chakra strings to move objects, and moving them with coordinated finesse. And, on top of all that, she hadn't even been attempting to teach him puppet jutsu.

"Hmm… I have a present for you."

That was the day he got his first life-sized puppet. It was somewhat human-shaped, but when you looked at the face, you could tell it wasn't… It was just a puppet. It looked like a puppet, felt like a puppet, didn't move like a person…

But, if you could alter its face… and put a synthetic skin on top of the wood… and move it as if it were human…

What would be the difference between the puppet and a person?

* * *

Sasori was sixteen and the pride of the small village of Suna. The entire village wasn't large at all, and was so small in comparison to villages such as the Cloud and the Grass that the only reason they were still surviving was the desert that separated them from the County of Fire.

He was in the middle of a reconnaissance mission with a three-man team, an attempt to map out one of the neighboring ninja villages. However, on the way to leave the County of Wind, a large desert storm separated him from the rest of the team.

He'd been by himself for about a half day when a mysterious figure approached him. The sandstorm seemed to dissipate around him, like he was the eye of the storm that couldn't touch him.

"Who are you?" Sasori demanded. The man was creepy-looking, with dark hair and glowing red eyes. Sasori was ready to fight, even though he would probably lose in the middle of such a storm.

"The important question is who _you_ are," the man responded. His voice made it seem like the statement was a riddle, but he continued, "If you are who I am seeking, you could be a considerable investment for me to collect. Is your name… Sasori?"

Sasori pulled himself into a fighting stance. "Perhaps. Either way, you'll have to defeat me to get any further." He thrust his hands out towards the intruder and began maneuvering a human-shaped puppet, one infused with hundreds of poisonous projectiles and hidden weapons.

The man made a sweeping motion with his hand in the direction of the puppet, and suddenly, Sasori's chakra strings dissipated, and he no longer had control over the puppet.

"Please. You are worth so much more than these silly dolls," the man purred, as if amused by Sasori's attempts. He disappeared into the sand, melding into the storm. A second later, Sasori heard the voice in his ear. "You know the monsters that have been attacking your fellow villagers?"

Sasori grabbed a poison-tipped needle from his belt pouch and sent it flying in the direction of the voice.

"I can make you one of them," the voice continued. Sasori sent another three in the new direction.

"I can make you stronger than you could imagine…" the voice hissed. Sasori moved to throw a few new needles, but paused at that. "And all it costs is your soul. Hell, I'll even keep your village protected."

"What happened to the dead villagers?" Sasori demanded. He needed to know what had been the fate of his deceased mother and father.

"The villagers? Our food… is human blood. Can you live with killing to live?"

"I already do."

"Shall I make you my next meal, or my new partner?"

Sasori threw the needles into the dirt. "Do what you have to do to make me stronger."

He didn't realize it until just then, but he no longer cared about the death of his parents. They were just people, like everyone else. They knew what they were getting into when they signed up to protect Suna. And, more importantly, they deserved it.

One or both of them should have quit so that they could raise him correctly. They should have sacrificed their work for his sake. But neither of them cared enough to do such a thing.

That was the thought that he held onto as Madara Uchiha's fangs pierced his neck.

* * *

"Here is the charter," Sasori handed the new leader of Suna a list of rules. Kankarou glanced through the list, silently accepting the rules and guidelines.

"So, what, basically the rules are that we can't harm any ninja from Suna, and we have to listen to you guys, no matter what?"

"That is the agreement," Sasori said with a small nod. "You may choose victims from either the civilian population of Suna, or from other villages."

"We don't have much of a connection to any other village," Temari cut in, "Would we really want to start a war over food?"

"If you happen to start a skirmish between Suna and another village, the Akatsuki shall undoubtedly support Suna."

"If you don't mind my asking, what is the reason for your organization's attachment to Suna?" Temari leaned in as she asked the question. Her tone was professional, and her stance was submissive but confident. Sasori had no doubt that she, while she wasn't given the title of leader, would undoubtedly be the head of diplomacy.

"Our other members either have completely cut off ties with their village, or have never had an affiliation. Our connection is purely coincidental in that I was the first member who had a preference, and as I originated from Suna, I made the request."

"So, you are the Sasori of legend?" Kankarou whispered. "The puppet-master… the one who disappeared during a mission, and who was assumed to have either died in the sandstorm or been killed by the monsters who plagued our village?"

Sasori gave a small sardonic smirk. "Both. I both died in that storm and was killed by the monster that plagued our village… But the difference is the monster allowed me to be born again. I am no longer the puppet-master… I am now the vampire."

* * *

"He is… interesting," Konan offered as they stared at the soon-to-be newest member of the Akatsuki.

"He has attained immortality without the means we have used," Pein explained, circling the stitched-together Kazuku. "He has explained the method to me, and I still am not entirely sure how it works."

"Do you require blood to survive?" Sasori leaned onto his palms, somewhat intrigued, but still barely more interested than he was in his dolls. He was almost done making that new puppet…

Kazuku scoffed. "As I have said before, I am _not_ a vampire; I am immortal. I don't even require regular food to survive… just hearts and a large amount of chakra."

"Well, welcome to the team, at any rate," Konan said before walking away. "Pein, have you spoken to Madara about him yet?"

"Who do you think recommended this, my flower?"

Konan responded with an affirmative sound before she strode forward, followed by Pein. The two of them had been turned around eight years before Sasori had, and they were the first to prove that vampires could drink the blood of other vampires.

In fact, the two of them would only drink each other's blood, and had never drunk anyone else's. They had come into the Akatsuki as a unit, a perfect pair.

Sasori hated them for it.

* * *

The newest member was another bizarre one. Another immortal that didn't _technically_ require blood… but he did use it for his jutsu. As it turned out, Hidan used a strange combination of chakra-based and blood-based ninjutsu – a combination that some sect of ninjas called Jashinists used.

"Man, I'm _telling_ ya, I ain't no vampire," Hidan let out a long sigh. "I'm a _Jashinist_… my Lord Jashin gave me these powers, and I _don't_ wanna be called by the same name as you godless demons," he paused, looking at everyone in the room. "No offense."

"Right," Madara nodded. "So, why do you want to join? We already have a regular immortal…"

"Well, he ain't the same as me. And I wanna join because I figure this is the best way to do what Jashin wants me to do."

"And what would that be?" Pein asked with a sigh.

"Kill, of course."

* * *

"What is… what are you doing?" Sasori demanded as he left the Akatsuki compound, unable to help but stare at the strange man. He was half-black, and half-white… literally. His head seemed to be encompassed by a green, plant-like object.

And he was currently using said green, plant-like object to eat one of the blood-depraved corpses.

"I figured you were finished with him, so…" the guy shrugged. "My name is Zetsu."

Sasori moved his fingers just slightly, ready to send one of his guard puppets after the man. Anyone who could get onto the Akatsuki grounds without setting off any sensors or being killed was a worthy adversary.

Zetsu melded into the ground as if melting before the puppet's attack could reach him. "That's rude," he responded. "I have heard about your organization… I'd like to join, if possible." His voice changed dramatically, from a normal sort of voice to one much deeper... and darker, somehow. "We heard you accept any type of powerful immortal, correct? Take us to your leader."

* * *

Nearly forty years passed. Since then, Sasori had spent a good deal of his time doing a personal inventory on himself.

He had spent the last two centuries going through human victims, using them and reusing them when he felt the urge, and did not kill them in the initial feedings. It had taken him almost a century to find out, but he greatly preferred young, beautiful males to females.

For that reason, he was jokingly (though it was honest in all aspects) called a 'widow-maker,' though he never felt much pity for any of the widows that were left in his wake.

He, though he was one of the oldest members of the Akatsuki (following Pein and Konan, who were only a decade or so older than he was) hated _everyone_ in the Akatsuki.

So, for nearly his entire existence, he submerged himself in his work, which ranged from functional and practical puppets, to puppets designed to imitate a particular person, and to puppets that had absolutely no function at all. He learned how to use cadavers to make puppets, and even how to make _oneself_ into a puppet… not that he would need to try such extreme measures, especially since he was already immortal and his blood jutsu might eventually ruin even the most perfect puppet.

He'd been alone for over a century, submerged in his work, and had finally decided that he was tired of going through victims so quickly – it was taking too much time away from his work.

So, he began seeking a victim. And the first place that he sought a victim from was from Konoha, the Land Hidden in the Leaf. As he went to leave, however, Pein stopped him, saying he had business in Konoha as well.

Pein had never trusted Sasori, so Sasori accepted without a fight. Why draw unnecessary suspicion to him, anyways?

As it turned out, their journey to the Leaf did not give Sasori any adequate results; art appreciation amid Leaf ninja was so poor that Sasori decided he'd have a better chance finding a victim in some other village, such as the Cloud. And that was where he went.

And found the perfect victim.

The man had long, blond hair and bright blue eyes; he was an excellent shinobi, and an amazing sculptor. True, he had a thing for explosions, and they'd argued a few times…

But Sasori had made up his mind quickly about the boy. His name was Deidara, and Sasori was going to make him his.

"So, what, un, I just let you turn me, and we drink from each other forever, yeah?" He had a speech impediment of _some_ sort, and Sasori had finally noticed the mouths on his hands…

Well, the first part wasn't too bad, and the second could easily be turned into a good thing.

"Exactly. Your power will increase ten-fold, and you could work on your art for an eternity," Sasori added, knowing that for a true artist, the last part would be the deal-sealer.

"Well, I'll have to pass, un."

"… What?" Sasori demanded. Few people could actually rile Sasori up, but this _boy's_ insolence had already driven him to the point of anger.

"Art is supposed to be there one second, un, and then disappear, yeah. It's supposed to be… breathtakingly beautiful, un, for a short time, and then be gone… Art is a bang, yeah."

"… Please. I have works of art that have survived for _over a century_. That's art; something that's amazing and will _last_ through the generations."

"No, un. That's an artifact. Yeah, over a _year_ is an artifact…"

"… I _will_ kill everyone in your family if you don't retract that statement."

"Okay, un! Just stating an _opinion_, yeah."

"Ch," Sasori scoffed. He was starting to rethink it. "But you know, if you live for an eternity… you can watch your art go away with a bang a million times over. And it'd be more interesting than this place. All it takes is a small sacrifice…"

"My mother, un, said never to sell my body for _anyone_, yeah."

"Who said anything about your body? I just want your blood."

"… Okay, un, but I'm not doing anything sexual, yeah."

As it turned out, Deidara was a 'sexual deviant,' so there was a good reason why his mind jumped to sexual relations so quickly. However, he also had similar tastes as Sasori. They both enjoyed the 'artistic beauty' of 'pretty men.' Deidara, like Sasori, didn't care much for personality as long as the person was a work of art.

After finding _that_ out, it didn't take long for Deidara to have sex with Sasori, though it did take the two of them a while to show each other their art work.

And thus, the second 'pair' of the Akatsuki was formed.

* * *

"I'd like to join your organization," a man vehemently declared at the front gate of their compound.

"Not this again…" Pein sighed. "How many members are we going to collect just because they can get past the sensors? It might be easier than we think… At what cost do you want to join us?"

"I want immortality, and with immortality, I want to use my time and collect every jutsu known to man. I will achieve this at _any_ cost."

"You sound driven… but to what end do you wish to use these jutsu?" Madara asked.

"Research," Orochimaru stated simply.

"Right…" Madara looked away and shook his head slightly. "You'll have to give a more honest answer than that. But, for now, we will put you on trial membership. That means everything _but_ becoming an immortal. You shall earn full membership if we deem you worthy of it."

Sasori could sense how pissed off Orochimaru was. It radiated off the man with the vehemence of killing intent, but the man stayed scarily pleasant about the matter. "Very well. I appreciate your consideration," he said, before standing up and leaving.

"Madara," Sasori asked, speaking for the first time during the event. "You have granted immortality to most of us easily enough. What makes that man different?"

"He wants to 'collect jutsu.' If you think about it, that puts a few of our members in danger," Madara's gaze shifted from the door that Orochimaru had just left through to Sasori, "And aside from that, he is rather off-putting. I do not trust him; why grant someone such as him immortality and the power to stab me in the back?"

"You aren't planning on giving him full membership at all, are you?"

Madara smirked. "Did you see how old he was? Remember the last time we tried turning someone as old as he is? He should be thanking us for not considering him; I just don't want to anger him further. He isn't completely sane… and the power of mental instability is great, you know."

"So, you're just going to lead him on until he gives up and realizes that we're never turning him?"

"Precisely."

* * *

Forty years passed from then. Orochimaru left after a good three years in the Akatsuki, having discovered that he wasn't going to attain immortality from being in the organization. However, his leaving wasn't a pleasant separation; he promised revenge on the Akatsuki, and swore he would make his own organization.

And then he left before any of them could kill him.

Things were going as usual; they were keeping Suna in check, as well as all of the other ninja villages that had sprung up over the past hundred or so years. They were 'requesting' victims from Konoha, the Cloud, the Grass, the Rain, the Mist, and a number of other smaller villages.

"Pein. I want you to go to Konoha, and hand Itachi Uchiha this letter. After you've done that, I want you to turn him and come back here," Madara said as he handed Pein a letter.

"What's inside?" Pein asked, glancing down at it and then back up at Madara.

"Instructions. And an offer to join our group."

"… Why do you want him to join us all of a sudden?"

"Because the Uchiha clan is planning an uprising against Konoha over a position they believe they deserve. Itachi Uchiha is the only one who _would_ leave Konoha, despite the pending overthrowing of Konoha's council. He is loyal to Konoha… but he won't be so loyal when he is offered this power and the ability to protect Konoha from afar over the centuries."

"Noted."

Itachi Uchiha had also been getting offers from Orochimaru to join his group, which he referred to as the Village Hidden in the Sound. However, he took up with the Akatsuki because he actually had the ability to do something _good _for his village from there. He was not considered a missing-nin, as the Akatsuki personally requested him; but he was still a traitor in the minds of every Konoha citizen for the mass destruction of the main clan of Konoha that took place the day before he left.

Only a half-year after he joined, he'd turned a missing-nin from the Mist as his victim, on the premise that the man's sword was absolutely astounding, as was the sheer amount of chakra that radiated from the man. He turned him purely on the basis of his fighting abilities and blood jutsu potential – nothing more.

He didn't need to care for the man; in fact, the only person he seemed to care for at all was his younger brother, the only person he _hadn't_ killed from his clan. He didn't even seem to care much for _himself_.

And with that, the Akatsuki now had ten members. And it was eight years later that Gaara, Temari, and Kankarou took Naruto, Shikamaru, and Shino as their victims. They attained a firm control over every one of their ninja villages, they each had a means of feeding that suited them, and they had a good connection with Suna.

But what no one knew, except Madara, was that shit was going to hit the fan _very_ soon. When Sasori had turned the Suna siblings, Madara read the oracle's premonition. And he _knew_ what to do about it.

He was going to start a war between the Sound, Suna, and Konoha using the three from Chiyo's premonition to attain control over the world, and each of its inhabitants.

**A/N: Okay, the order is screwed up, I know. Ignore that, this is AU anyways. I tried keeping to the plot, but oh, well. The chapter is very Sasori-centric… for no reason other than all the important events included Sasori, and I like Sasori/Deidara.**

Also, you may notice that I'm updating all of a sudden. SHOCKER. I might actually continue writing this. The only thing _is_ I'm having to go back and put borders between scene changes. I hate doing that. =| I usually use *** for a scene change but keeps erasing them.

**ALSO it's a pain in the ass to upload all of a sudden. But I'm working on the next chapter, trying to remind myself where I was going with this, and I might actually update sometime later this week.  
**


	14. Chapter 12

**And Darkness Prevails**

_ Chapter Twelve – The Sound of Hell_

"Hello, Sasuke," Orochimaru attempted to purr the words, but instead, the words came out like a snake slithering from his mouth; Sasuke had already made up his mind about Orochimaru – he was crazy, and he was power-hungry.

But he was immensely strong, and had the power to make Sasuke even stronger than he was. He would put up with Orochimaru for as long as he needed, and then kill him. Not just kill him; he would have to eradicate his existence from the planet in order to escape the man's cruel tendrils.

"You're Orochimaru?" Sasuke's voice was devoid of interest or enthusiasm. Orochimaru slightly inclined his head, as if he were some sort of extravagant monarch. Sasuke crossed his arms. "I'm hungry," he finally blurted out. And it was true… his veins were burning for blood, and his stomach was churning into his chest for nourishment. His head was pounding, and his vision was beginning to swim.

"I expected as much. Tayuya… her blood is of decent quality, but it is by no means the best," Orochimaru motioned towards the darkness behind his seat. A man walked forward, dressed in a white robe and a purple bow. He had sunken-in skin and light hair, and everything about the man looked sickly. "Kimimaru is of an extinct bloodline," Orochimaru smirked at him, "Well, aside from Kimimaru himself, of course. He will be your teacher and your… provider. For now, at least," Orochimaru seemed to share another smirk with Kimimaru, as if the two of them knew something that Sasuke didn't.

Or the man was dying, and Orochimaru was holding it above Kimimaru's head.

"Fine," Sasuke said shortly, before turning to Kimimaru. "I'm hungry _now_," he said with the same impatient tone of a toddler. On one level, Sasuke was shocked at how demanding he was being… after all, he'd never been that needy with _anything_ except…

Well, except for Naruto's attention. He didn't necessarily aim to catch it, but when he got any attention from Naruto, Sasuke always felt more… normal. To everyone else, he was either a target of contempt (mostly due to jealousy) or a target of absolute adoration. To Naruto, he was just… a friend.

And Sasuke didn't realize until after Naruto had left just how much he cared for the annoying idiot, but now that Sasuke knew how he felt… sometimes, he wished that he'd been a little nicer.

And yet, it was because Naruto was no longer in Konoha that Sasuke had made this move so quickly. He didn't care how his leaving affected anyone else; and anyways, Naruto had left first. It was only fair.

Kimimaru walked up to Sasuke with a quiet grace that made Sasuke think of ghouls gliding across a floor. With the same scary grace, he held out an arm in Sasuke's direction. He pushed the sleeve of his robe up around his elbow carefully, doing his best to make sure that it wouldn't slip.

And then, with a flick of his wrist, a bone grew out of the base of his palm, long and sharp, as if it were a sword. "It grows back quickly," he said, not bothered by the pain, even though it _had_ to be immense… unless he was genetically numb to the pain. "So you may want to drink quickly," he advised, pulling the bone out of his arm and tossing it aside, as if discarding a piece of trash.

Sasuke complied, holding the wound open as he drank. Blood flowed from the deep hole much more quickly than it had from even Tayuya, who'd sliced her wrist from her palm to her elbow – probably because Kimimaru's wound was so much deeper. He didn't even move to complain when Sasuke drank enough to make a normal person seriously anemic; he just stood there and waited for Sasuke to be satiated.

When Sasuke did finally pull away from Kimimaru's wrist, wiping at the blood that trailed down the corners of his mouth, Kimimaru's wound healed in the short time it took for Sasuke to clean his face.

"Kabuto," Orochimaru purred, "Escort Sasuke to his room, and then give Kimimaru a few transfusions."

"If it is all the same," Kabuto said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I'd prefer taking Kimimaru to the hospital wing first. Or to have someone else escort Sasuke. Kimimaru is already in poor health."

Orochimaru shook his head slowly. "You are the only one I can trust with Sasuke, and Sasuke comes before all else. I have already unlocked the secrets to Kimimaru…"

Sasuke noticed the slight clenching of Kabuto's hands. What did that have to do with him, anyways? "If it is all the same," Kimimaru interrupted, "I do not want to be a bother to Orochimaru," his eyes shifted languidly to Sasuke, and then back to Kabuto, "I do not need special attention; I just wish to be of service to Orochimaru."

"Pity that he can't be turned, isn't it? He'd be such a good right-hand man, if only his blood wouldn't reject my cure…" Sasuke could sense the underlying tone of threat aimed at Kabuto.

"Let's go, Sasuke, Kimimaru," Kabuto's tone betrayed no emotion, as if he was simply ignoring Orochimaru's comments. But it was plain to see for any true ninja that Kabuto was angered by his boss's jabs.

Sasuke followed him, not bothering to comment on the exchange, or anything else for that matter. It was best to keep out of it.

* * *

"Where is he?" Iruka asked Ayame as she got ready to head out on a ramen delivery. He was beside himself with worry… Kakashi hadn't spoken to him at all since Sasuke left, and he'd heard rumors that Kakashi was doing poorly on missions. He'd also heard a much worse rumor – Kakashi had become a drunk.

"He hasn't come by to see us for a while now," she said, a look of pity on her face. She knew just as much as the other villagers did, maybe even more than she would ever let on. "But… try the Jonin-only club. It'll be hard… maybe impossible… to get in, but maybe you can get someone to drag him out."

"The Jonin-only club?" Iruka was kind of annoyed; that _would_ be where Kakashi would hide to keep Iruka from finding him. "I'll get in, or get him out, one way or another," he let out a small sigh, "Thanks, Ayame. Take care."

Before she could get out a, "You, too," or a, "Come by and see us more," he had already sprinted off in the direction of the club. Ayame gripped the hem of her apron tightly before releasing it. She had work to do, after all; there was no _time_ to worry about Iruka and Kakashi. She could just pray things worked out for them.

* * *

"Here's your room," Kabuto said, unlocking a heavy oak door with a mangled copper key. "If you need anything, just yell, and Jirobo will come to give you anything you require."

Sasuke looked into the room. It was actually quite comfortable-looking, with a large, soft bed, some couches, a lot of open space in the center of the room, and swords hanging on the wall. "Training starts tomorrow, early in the morning. Kimimaru will be instructing you with your sword-training."

"Wait," Sasuke instructed, his voice already taking on a demanding tone. He knew where he stood in Orochimaru's eyes; at least for now, he was a 'pet project.' Even though Kabuto was somewhat of a second-in-command, Sasuke was still at a higher level than him by merit of rarity.

He stopped at the doorway, adjusting his glasses in annoyance. He said nothing, waiting for Sasuke to continue.

"Do I eat regular food?"

Kabuto let out an audible sigh, glanced at Kimimaru as if to make sure that he was still standing, and then spoke, "You'll need regular food at first… Your body can't survive on just blood until the transformation is complete. In the next eight hours or so, you'll probably feel like you're starving. That's why we have Jirobo on standby for you… or maybe if you get really bored. Just," Kabuto adjusted his glasses again, "Try to sleep, or read, or something of that nature."

Before Sasuke could speak, Kabuto was already rushing out the door and down the hallway.

That night, Kimimaru died of a severe anemic disorder, which had also forced his current medical condition to worsen. And the only one who seemed to care on any level was Kabuto, who was only annoyed because he'd lost a patient. He hadn't actually cared for Kimimaru, as too many people had died at the Sound for Kabuto to care any longer.

* * *

Iruka arrived at the club just a half hour before closing time. Iruka was insanely curious about the Jonin-only club, mostly because it had been the Fourth Hokage's idea, proposed a year or two before his death, and though it had been accepted by the general populace, it had been built just recently.

He moved to the door to ask if Kakashi was inside, when a rough hand grabbed him on the shoulder. "Jonin and above only," the voice said, not to be rude, but it was said as if they were just expecting that he honestly didn't know.

The only bouncer that a Jonin club needed was the people inside, and while Iruka didn't know the man by sight, he could tell from how the man carried himself that he was at a higher level than Chunin. "I… I just need to speak to someone. Do you know Kakashi Hatake? Could you…?"

"Wait! I'll take on this challenge!" a loud voice boomed from behind Iruka. Iruka spun around, only to come face-to-face with a lot of green. And then he looked higher, and saw the Green Beast of Konoha, Gai Mighto. "My rival doesn't stand a chance! Move aside!" he yelled into the crowd, shoving himself forward.

Iruka only had to wait a few minutes before Gai had brought Kakashi to the outside of the club. Kakashi looked downright _sick_ – he was unable to move on his own, and was leaning on Gai for support. He was obviously trying to hold back vomit, he stank, and his clothes were dishelved in a 'I've been in the same outfit for a week now' kind of way.

It had been months since Sasuke left, and Kakashi was on 'vacation' now. Kakashi didn't let his personal feelings damage his work or missions, but when it came to his free time…? Kakashi had completely wrecked himself. He and Iruka hadn't been _together_ since Iruka held him after they discovered Sasuke had left.

Iruka barely felt like the two of them were dating.

But Kakashi had been there for him when Naruto left, so Iruka would be there for Kakashi – even if Kakashi was taking Sasuke leaving on top of Sakura's strange new training and antisocial behavior on top of Naruto's candidacy.

Had it really been so long since then…? Hadn't it been only six months? Iruka had healed, and was looking forward to seeing a much older Naruto in the village four and a half years from now. He believed that Naruto could survive, with all of his being. He had to.

"'ruka," Kakashi greeted with a burping, gurgling sound. "Whutcha doin' her?"

"I'm here to get your ass out of the bar," Iruka said in a deadpan voice, moving to take him from Gai.

"Cunt muk 'e oh."

"I can so," Iruka said, deciding to treat Kakashi as if he were a naughty Elementary student and not his once-and-current lover.

"Kakashi! You are in a state that is depressing for me, as your rival, to witness! I shall not allow you to pass this threshold!" Gai said suddenly shifting Kakashi from his arms to Iruka and standing in front of the door, blocking it as if Kakashi could summon the strength to move past him.

In response, Kakashi threw up.

* * *

Life in the Sound moved on, as if Kimimaru dying hadn't happened at all. The next day, Sakon and Ukon taught Sasuke how to use swords, and alternated back and forth between feeding him. And every hour, Kabuto would walk by and make sure that Sakon and Ukon were fine, ready to give them blood transfusions whenever they needed to counter Sasuke's voracious appetite.

That system worked well, for a while. But soon, Sasuke had accidentally taken too much blood from Ukon, and when Ukon moved back to become a part of Sakon's body, Ukon would slowly drain life-force from Sakon in order to keep himself alive. Soon, they were mutually leeching diminishing life force from each other… and there was nothing Kabuto could do to help them.

Eventually, they became withered husks. But Orochimaru had pretty much already counted them as dead – and instructed Sasuke to continue feeding from them, until every last drop was gone.

Jirobo lasted for a very long time, being of _enormous_ girth. But even with blood transfusions and being put off missions to be Sasuke's blood source, he still died a few months into Sasuke's feeding off of him.

And Tayuya… didn't last long at all. She was tough, but she was smaller than the others, and only lasted through four feedings. She lasted longer than Orochimaru's last resort, Kidomaru, but still. Sasuke felt like he was a meat grinder and that Orochimaru was constantly pushing people through him like they were raw meat.

This made sense, because that seemed to be what Orochimaru thought of people in general, unless they had a jutsu he wanted. That, and Orochimaru _had_ said to eat however his body wanted to, and ignore the fact that people were dying.

Sasuke spent his days training and his nights pacing around the parts of the compound he was allowed in. This pretty much restricted him to the baths and the living quarters, because after a certain time of night Orochimaru didn't want him training. But Sasuke was restless, and usually couldn't sleep. He considered so many things as he paced…

Mostly whether or not he could kill Orochimaru once he'd gotten the full effects of the vampirism. He didn't want to kill him before he was finished being turned in this strange, drawn-out manner, but he also didn't want to try killing Orochimaru when he was actually too weak to do it.

The night he'd had the last member of the Sound Four, Kidomaru, Sasuke was pacing the hallways aimlessly, wandering, lost in thought. He'd done the same thing night after night, but tonight… something was off.

He heard quick, rapid breathing in the other room. It was a noise he couldn't identify, and he _needed _to know what it was. It sounded like someone was pained… Sasuke travelled down the dark corridors, the sounds of deep breathing getting heavier and heavier.

And then he saw something he really didn't need to see.

He saw the completely unclothed backside of Orochimaru viciously thrusting a barely-clothed Kabuto against the wall.

Sasuke and Kabuto locked eyes before Sasuke dashed down the hallway back towards his room. He had always had his… suspicions, but he'd never thought he'd see something like that in person. He shoved the thought to the side of his mind and fell asleep, forcing the memory beneath the depths of his consciousness.

It wasn't a necessary thing to remember.

* * *

"What's going on, Kakashi?" Iruka demanded as soon as his eyes opened the next day. Kakashi only let out a groan as a response and turned back around, his face buried into Iruka's couch. "I know you've been feeling like shit since Sasuke left, but it _happens_. You know this! Why are you jumping off of the deep end _now_?"

Kakashi groaned into the couch.

Iruka moved over to him, rolling him hard on his side. Kakashi winced, but as bad as it was, Iruka ignored the pain of his hangover.

Kakashi was a ninja. He'd been in worse, and Iruka wasn't ready to baby him now. Not after a night of holding his head when he threw up, a night of bathing him when Kakashi was out of it, a night of gently laying Kakashi down on the couch and staying up all night to make sure Kakashi didn't ninja off somewhere.

Because even drunk, a Jonin could just pull it together randomly and escape a Chunin, easily.

"Kakashi," Iruka demanded, nearly screaming, "Tell me now, or so help me god, I'm _leaving you_."

Iruka was shocked that the words had come from his mouth. He'd never threatened to leave Kakashi, not once, not ever. Kakashi had never threatened him with it, either – it was like they were both happily resigned to being together forever, or at least until one of them died in the line of action.

Which would probably be Kakashi.

Kakashi took the threat seriously, peeking out from the crevices of his fingers. "I'mma thro'up on you."

"We both know you're done with that, you've just got a headache. Now man up and tell me what's going on."

In a few seconds, Kakashi suddenly seemed sober, his ninja abilities suddenly seeming to kick in. "I just feel like… teaching was supposed to be my way of fixing ever'thing I fucked up… Naruto is…" Kakashi didn't dare say the words 'probably dead,' "Sasuke is gone, and Sakura is on some fucked up vampire-hunting kick that'll get'er killed…"

Oh.

That was the piece of information that Iruka didn't know.

Sakura was his last student, and was always constantly studying _something_ – Iruka had had no clue that that something was hunting vampires, a career move that would probably end her life faster than anything else. Hunting vampires was something some ninjas did, something that the vampires of Suna didn't really care about, but the older ones… they'd kill any rogue vampire hunters. Torture and kill. Feed from, torture, and kill. Whichever they wanted.

Iruka sat down beside Kakashi, slowly petting his hair. "She's a smart girl – someone will talk sense into her. You're still her teacher – just talk her out of it."

Kakashi turned his head into Iruka's lap, blocking the light again. "Dunno if I can…" he mumbled weakly.

Iruka didn't say anything about the heated wetness that was suddenly against his leg, the heated wetness of tears. Ninjas don't cry.

Especially not a Jonin.

* * *

Sasuke stood in the centre of the room, working on his breathing exercises. It was stupid, but it was what the scroll had said to do to strengthen his fire jutsu. He was going to have someone else come in and help with his lightening, but for now, It was all fire.

The door opened and swung shut with a metallic clatter. Ah, it was going to have to be whoever was the replacement for Tayuya. Who was his next teacher-combined-food source…?

He turned to see Kabuto. He turned back around, memories of the night before suddenly flooding to the surface. Damn it all, why did _he_ have to walk in on Orochimaru and Kabuto…? It was awkward, having seen something like that.

And even more so because Kabuto knew.

"I'm your new teacher," Kabuto said, voice even and clinical. "I'll be teaching you basic blood jutsu."

"… are you also my…?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"Feeding source? Of course, why would I be any different than the others?" The question should have been sarcastic, but it came out as puzzled.

"But… you're closer to Orochimaru than the others. Is he really willing to lose you…?"

Kabuto glared him down, appraising to find out if Sasuke meant closer to Orochimaru as a lover, or closer to him as a second-hand-man. Kabuto couldn't decide, but either way didn't change the result. "No, Orochimaru doesn't favor me in the slightest. Besides, I can heal myself – the others couldn't."

"So you're going to last longer than the others?"

"Hopefully years longer," Kabuto said, rolling his eyes. "Tell me when you're hungry and we'll stop for lunch. Until then, stop the stupid breathing exercises and start channeling chakra for some real work."

Hours passed of Kabuto trying to teach Sasuke how to infuse his blood with chakra to use for jutsus, and by the time Sasuke was hungry, he was getting fed up with it on the whole.

"What am I doing _wrong_?" Sasuke whined after a while. He was already feeling burnt out, having spent his entire morning trying to convert his chakra into blood or his blood into chakra, or whatever the hell it was that Kabuto was trying to get him to do.

"Everything," Kabuto said with a sigh. "But it's understandable – blood jutsu is the one form of jutsu that everyone can learn, but it's also the hardest to grasp. Just try to pull the chakra inwards instead of pushing it outwards, if that makes any sense."

"It doesn't," Sasuke glared. "And I'm _hungry_."

Kabuto rolled his eyes, but he pulled the collar of his shirt over for Sasuke to bite. Sasuke stared at him in confusion for a moment – he had been biting wrists and hands since he'd come to the Sound, and Kabuto was suddenly offering up his _neck_?

"Just bite it," Kabuto said, sighing again. "If you mess with the nerves in my wrist, I can't do any of my medical jutsu, and besides, I can heal myself anyways."

Sasuke leaned against Kabuto, feeling incredibly awkward. The shirt Orochimaru had given him was designed to be open, so his bare chest was pressing against Kabuto's. The only way to pull Kabuto's neck closer to his mouth was to grasp both shoulders to bite down, which was promoting even more physical closeness.

All he could think about as he bit down was that Orochimaru had been feeling up the same guy just last night, that Orochimaru had probably licked and/or kissed the same neck he was biting now.

And all he could hope for in that moment, all he could desperately pray for, was that Kabuto had showered since then.

**A/N: I hate writing Sasuke's parts. xD I forget how hard it is for me to keep Sasuke in character because he bores the hell out of me. Kanky, Shino, Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, Temari... all of them are interesting, fun to write, and therefore, easy for me to keep in character! Sasuke is boring as hell in comparison. Kabuto is almost fun. Almost.  
**


	15. Chapter 13

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Thirteen – A Strange Visit_

A month had passed since Gaara had seen Naruto in his Eight-Tailed form, and he hadn't bothered talking to him at all about the subject. Gaara had no idea that Naruto was the Nine-Tails, or even that other demons existed. He'd never come across any others, since he spent all of his life in Suna.

But he felt like he needed to know. He was researching as much as he could in his limited library, but it all came up with nothing. It was seriously frustrating, and Gaara was pushed past his usual breaking point. He was snapping at everyone who walked by, screaming as his sister, and holding kunai to his brother's throat.

And besides. His mother wasn't helping, either.

He'd seen the swirling masses of chakra around Naruto – he knew something was different about the boy, but he didn't know _what_. He'd had his theories, of course, but…

"_Mom… are there others like me?"_

'_Shut up that nonsense, Gaara!' _the Ichibi screamed back, _'He is nothing like you – he is something entirely different, something I haven't seen before. Stop prying – he'll be dead soon enough, anyways.'_

"_Do you want me to kill him? I can kill him, Mother – I can rip him to shreds, smash the shreds to pulp, and then burn the pulp to a crisp…"_

'_No. Do not go near that boy, until you absolutely have to. Make him suffer in a different way – starve him, break him, harm him in any way you can, but do _not_ kill or maim him.'_

"_Why…?"_

'_Shush now, Gaara. Mother. Knows. Best.'_

Finally after a week of not letting Naruto eat, Temari put her foot down and started feeding Naruto more food than usual, an extra meal a day. She was still inwardly tormented about how horribly Gaara was treating Naruto, and she finally saw an opportunity to appeal for him – Gaara was scheduled to have a private meeting with the Akatsuki.

"Come on, Gaara, let them just hang out for the hour," Temari pleaded, following her brother down the hallway.

"No. He is not to have contact with the others," Gaara hissed. His voice was coming out with a strange degree of clarity, firm focus in his gaze. It was moments like that were Temari believed that, should he have been sane, he would have been a good leader.

"What can he do with the other two that he can't do on his own?"

Gaara turned, slamming Temari into the wall with a loud _thump_, his nails digging into her shoulder. She didn't wince or flinch or cringe – she just continued to stare down at him, her gaze full of hatred and determination.

But his held a hundred times more of the same stuff. "He can be _happy_," Gaara hissed, digging his nails in slightly deeper to emphasize the word, before he turned and stormed off.

Temari sighed. She'd promised that she would try, and she did try – she had the marks to prove it. But she'd sincerely wanted Shino and Shikamaru to see him – they both, apparently, had decided that Naruto was dead, and that the three of them were just keeping it from him.

* * *

"_I am so. Sick. Of this shit,"_ Naruto growled out, curled up against the wall, thinking hard to the Kyuubi.

'_Well, if you would have just escaped and let the Aburame die, then you wouldn't be in this predicament,'_ the Kyuubi said back, an unseen roll in his eyes. _'I mean, that's what I gave you all that extra chakra for.'_

"_Yeah, yeah fucking right. Shino would be dead and they'd be hunting my ass. And now Gaara knows about you."_

'_Too bad there is no way to convince him it's something different. He saw your eyes, he saw you with all eight tails, and you kicked his ass.'_

"_Yeah, yeah I did kind of kick his ass, didn't I?" _Naruto asked, letting out a small chuckle.

But it hadn't been a real fight. It had been Naruto keeping Gaara from getting to Shino, all because Shino had, for the first time in his life, said something a little too stupid a little too loud.

Naruto had planned to give Shino hell about it the next time they saw each other, but Naruto hadn't seen so much as a glance of the other two. Neither had they seen him – since that night, Naruto had been locked in his room, twenty-four-seven. No bathroom breaks, no showers, nothing. He was dirty, disgusting, and his room smelt from obvious reasons.

The door opened, and Naruto was up like a shot, ready for some kind of actual human interaction. So long as it wasn't Gaara.

Thankfully, it was Temari, looked… upset. Naruto was at her side in an instant, having long ago mentally adopted her as a mother figure.

"He… he said he wants you to stay by yourself because he doesn't want you to be happy," Temari explained, slouching against the wall.

"I can't even at least get a shower or even bathroom breaks again?" Naruto asked, crest-fallen. It was the broken-hearted puppy look that always tore at Temari's soul – none of Gaara's victims had ever lived to be treated so badly. They'd died long before Gaara hated them and actually wanted to make them suffer. And she really did care about Naruto.

"I… didn't really have a chance to ask," she didn't want to lie, so she just had to settle with the truth. "But he doesn't notice stuff like showers – I'm supposed to watch you guy while Gaara is meeting with the Akatsuki, and I can sneak you into the washrooms."

She was also planning on cleaning the hell out of his room, but she wasn't going to embarrass him by saying so.

"… will I be alone?" Naruto was dreading the answer.

"Yeah, Shino and Shikamaru are getting watched by Kankarou, and he's such a pussy that he's actually listening to Gaara," Temari said with a nervous laugh.

"Great. Just what I need. More alone time with my thoughts," Naruto growled out.

'_Or lack thereof.'_

."But please, come on, I just want to… _talk_ to people. I miss _people_, Temari," Naruto pleaded, ignoring Kyuubi's smart-ass comment.

"Sorry, Nar… there's really nothing I can do," she said, pulling him into a hug, despite his overall gross-ness. "Except burn these clothes," she murmured into his greasy blond hair.

* * *

"Alright, Shikamaru is going to be hanging out in here with you later today," Kankarou said, slinking down beside Shino on the bed. Shino had stopped speaking as much, lapsed back into his solitude of silence that he'd had when he first came.

It seriously pissed Kankarou off.

Shino nodded silently, fiddling with the small puzzle box that Kankarou had given him to spend his time. He'd already solved it, but it supposedly had six ways to solve, and he'd only found four.

"If you don't talk to me, I will take one piece of that stupid box," Kankarou threatened jokingly. He was serious about wanting Shino to talk to him, but… not so serious that he was going to threaten with something big.

Like, say, killing his bugs.

"I look forward to spending time with Shikamaru, then," Shino mumbled.

"… o… kay…" There was an awkward silence, just as there had been so many awkward silences since Shino talking with him had nearly gotten him killed.

Not that it was close to being Kankarou's fault. After all, it had been Shino's momentary lapse of judgment that caused it. Though he had prodded Shino into saying it…

So Kankarou did what he always did when he was nervous – he talked way too much. "I hope that bastard Deidara isn't with them. I'm fine when it's just that creepy Itachi dude, but when it's Deidara or Sasori I just can't stand being around them. Every time Deidara comes here he tries to see you, to see if I have you dressed in some kind of kinky sex clothes. But I don't swing that way, y'know? He just wants to _think_ I do –"

"Seems to me you protest too much," Shino mumbled, scooting away from Kankarou.

"What?" Kankarou spat out the words.

"I mean, if you really _weren't_, you wouldn't get as upset as you do when someone says you _are_. I mean, you've gotten a little… close to me, and it seems odd for a 'straight' guy."

Kankarou stared at him, his blank look growing into a glare. "Fine," he spat out, snatching the box from Shino's hand. "You'll never solve the stupid puzzle box. Ever," he said before storming out of the room.

Stupid puzzle box.

* * *

Gaara stormed into Naruto's room, slamming the door open. Naruto sat down on the bed and quickly pulled off his shirt, mostly because he didn't want to leave anything on the shirt – like blood – that Gaara would notice wasn't there if he put on clean clothes.

Gaara grabbed Naruto by the throat and flung him to the wall, straddling him to stare directly into his eyes. "What the hell _are _you?" he growled.

He needed to know – and despite the Ichibi demanding that he leave, wailing for him to stop, screaming in his mind that he was too close and should go… despite all of that, he needed to know.

Something about Naruto was driving him up a wall with curiosity and need. If there was the slightest chance that there was anyone in the world that was like Gaara, similar to Gaara, or even in the neighborhood – Gaara needed to know.

"I'm just a _guy_," Naruto bit out. Gaara's nails were driving into his shoulder, gouging out skin.

"Like hell you are," Gaara growled, staring harder into Naruto's blue eyes. Naruto gulped.

"_Kyuu Kyuu Kyuu Kyuu what do I do?"_

'_Ugh. You're a ninja, you can withstand a little torture. Just don't tell him about me, since he obviously doesn't know yet. It's not that hard.'_

"_Damn it Kyuubi!"_

"I'm just a guy. That stuff earlier was a chakra technique my teacher started to teach me before I left because I was born with like, over-reactive chakra points or some shit, and I've been working on it alone in here since I came. That's _all_."

'_Good lie, kid!'_

"_Then why the hell couldn't _you_ come up with that?"_

"… I don't believe you," Gaara said, pushing Naruto even harder against the wall.

"Well, that's too bad for you," Naruto growled out.

There was a knock on the door, and Temari poked her head in. "Sasori, Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu are here for you in the meeting room. You don't have time to eat," she added, locking eyes with Naruto.

Gaara was still staring Naruto down, and hadn't even glanced Temari's way.

"Gaara…" she said, as if she were talking to a small child. He glared at her, looked back at Naruto, and slowly climbed off. Temari shot him a sympathetic look as she ushered Gaara out of the room and down the hall towards the room where the Akatsuki was.

* * *

"Put this on," Temari said, tossing Shikamaru a dark t-shirt, one made of a thin material that seemed like it would barely fit over his torso.

A freaking muscle shirt.

"What am I, your dress-up doll?" Shikamaru said, glaring down at the shirt. "It's troublesome to have to put on whatever you think makes me look good when I'm just seeing _Shino_," he complained as he took off his own shirt, tossing it aside, and pulling on the dark shirt.

The shirt clung to his skinny torso, basically showing off how little muscle he had. He'd always been a thinker, and being locked up in one building for so long had made him even thinner. He did sit-ups whenever he could, but…

"Yeah, that's exactly what you are. Here's clean underwear and pants," She looked at his hair and grabbed the rubber-band off of her wrist, "And a new rubber-band for your hair."

"I see him _every two days_ when we take baths," he said, unbuckling his pants and sliding them down, tossing them on his bed. As he started pulling his underwear down, he continued, "You're not parading me around in front of the Akatsuki _again_, are you?" he asked, pulling on the clean underwear. He was used to being naked in front of her.

Besides. Propriety was bothersome.

"No, I just want to set an example for Kankarou and Gaara. Both of them are mad at their victims, and both of them have a thing for forgetting little civil liberties like clean clothes," Temari said, rolling her eyes.

"Are we going to see Naruto?" Shikamaru said, perking up.

"No, no, I'm sneaking him into the baths while you and Shino are in his room."

"Can we at least _see_ him? To make sure he's still you know, _alive_?" Shikamaru asked, halfway through struggling into the clean pants. There were new and weren't broken in yet, so they were hard to wiggle into…

"I'll have him yell really loud so the two of you can hear him," Temari said, rolling her eyes. "Anyways. Kankarou should be by in like, an hour, and he'll take you to your stupid play-date."

"What is the deal with this meeting, anyways? I mean, the extra security on the three of us, and then Gaara meeting by himself?" Shikamaru asked, finally buttoning the pants.

"Well, the last time we didn't put extra security on the victims, we had a breach… and Gaara is meeting alone with them because of the–," she paused, and stared Shikamaru down. "You know, I really shouldn't be talking about this with you. They're talking about something that has nothing to do with me or Kankarou, and the extra security is so one of the Akatsuki don't decide to taste you or so you don't try leaving. End of story," she snapped.

"Hey, you were the one who offered up the information with like, barely a question," Shikamaru said, a smirk plastered across his face as he sunk onto his bed, leaning against the wall.

"Whatever," Temari said, rolling her eyes as she stormed out of the room.

Boys were troublesome, damn it all, not girls.

* * *

"In the room," Kankarou gruffly said, urging Shikamaru into Shino's room. There was a chair set out, just in case Shikamaru didn't want to sit directly beside Shino, and Kankarou had laid out some board games, which Shikamaru promptly scoffed at.

"What are we, six? Should I have brought my building blocks?" Shikamaru plopped down on the ground next to Shino's leg, his legs sprawled out ahead of him.

"How have you been, Shikamaru?"

"I'd be better if Temari wasn't so testy all the time. It's _so_ troublesome – you're lucky you have a guy," Shikamaru said, sinking against the bed and rubbing his eyes.

"Well, I _would_ be lucky if I had a guy," Shino murmured out.

"Hey!" Kankarou barked from across the room.

"I think I see the issue now," Shikamaru agreed.

* * *

"Here's the same outfit you're wearing, but clean," Temari said, handing Naruto clothes identical to the ones he was already wearing. "If Gaara's meeting takes longer than we're thinking it's going to, I'll probably have you stop by Shino's room so that the two of them know you're alive – they're kind of worried about you," she admitted.

"Great," Naruto said, accepting the clothes and tucking them underneath his arm. He said the word pleasantly, finally giving Temari the reaction she'd been looking for all along.

"And don't worry about Gaara, we'll snap him back down to… normal for him," she said, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'll wait outside the bath area – just stay in there until I knock for you to come out, okay?"

Naruto nodded, understanding the plan. Temari might have to sneak him back in the room, if Gaara came back early – but if he came back late, well, it'd be great for morale if the three of them could at least glance at each other.

He went into the bathroom, throwing the clothes off of him as quickly as he could. He was suddenly rushing, clothes flinging all across the room. He jumped in the water, quickly scrubbed his body, and then climbed out, just as quickly as he'd gotten in.

He toweled off as quickly as he could before pulling on the clean clothes, feeling extremely refreshed and ready to go.

"_Ready, Kyuubi?"_ Naruto asked mentally, staring down the wall in front of him.

'_Took you damn long enough,'_ the Kyuubi responded gruffly. _'I mean, damn, I was ready for you to go as soon as you went into the damn bathroom, but no, you had to be a girl about it and bathe.'_

"_Whatever, Kyuu, just go!"_

The Kyuubi quickly powered Naruto up to one tail, chakra swirling around in huge red masses around Naruto. He amped it up to two, and then three, a body of red chakra built around Naruto. He was going to go at all costs.

Naruto ambled up to the wall, lifted his chakra-infused fist, and punched the wall. It made a loud, solid noise, but it also left a huge crater in its wake. He did a quick one-two punch in the same spot, and filtered light shone through.

Yes!

* * *

"That's it, I'm sitting outside. I don't need this abuse," Kankarou growled out as he left the room. The door closed with a clank and Kankarou sat against the door, arms crossed over his cheat. He could still kind of hear that they were in there and talking, but he couldn't hear _what_ they were saying – the doors to the room where made of metal that was too thick.

"But, seriously, how are things with you and Kankarou?" Shikamaru asked, feeling like he could really talk now that Kankarou was kind of out of ear-shot.

"Well, he is… overly-friendly. He seems to believe we have a tight bond, but… I believe he is under this impression simply because I listen."

"Ah. Well, that's better than Temari. She likes Naruto more than me, I swear. She won't really talk to me for some reason, and she won't tell me what that reason _is_. She's kind of cold… it's annoying as hell, seriously."

"Perhaps we should switch vampires. You can enjoy Kankarou's company, and I can enjoy the cold impersonal practicality of Temari," Shino said, letting out a rare chuckle.

"Yeah, but I don't know… she's fucking troublesome most of the time, but I think she's pretty… you know. She's pretty cool, when she's not going off the deep-end about whatever." Shikamaru looked over at Shino, as if he was expecting a similar revelation from his comrade.

No such thing came.

So Shikamaru had to help prod him towards him towards it.

"And Kankarou isn't so bad. I mean, yeah he talks too much, but he's pretty nice about some stuff. Right?"

"Some things more than others," Shino said gruffly, not wanting to let go of the fact that Kankarou often invaded his personal space… but willing to admit that Kankarou was good about pain-killing and feeding him and letting him talk to the other victims and everything.

Which was more than he could say of Gaara.

They heard a loud crashing banging noise through the door and jumped up, ready to fight – well. Nothing. Nothing would be coming to fight _them_, it would be the vampires. But ninja instincts never really died.

They heard Kankarou curse loudly from the other side of the door before it all lapsed back into silence again.

Shikamaru walked to the door and tried opening it, just in case Kankarou didn't think to lock it before he left. Unfortunately, he had habitually reached back to flick the dead bolt before rushing to see the source of the noise.

"Ugh. _Of course_ it's locked," Shikamaru said, slinking back down onto the floor. "Now we'll never know what happened."

"… that's not entirely true. I'm almost certain that when Kankarou comes back, he won't shut _up_ about it."

"Heh. True," Shikamaru said with a small laugh. "But ugh, it's troublesome to wait…"

* * *

Temari had left the bathroom unattended, locking it from the outside as she left so that Naruto couldn't leave. She went back to Naruto's room and was starting to clean and scrub, ignoring the fact that it was a totally disgusting job.

And then she heard the sound of an entire wall crumbling. She rushed back to the bathroom, unlocking the door with fumbling fingers, and then flinging herself inside. Light streamed into the room, burning her arm. She let out a hiss of pain as she propelled backwards, shock crossing her face.

"God damn it Naruto!" Temari shrieked, anger filling her. She couldn't chase after him, she couldn't get anyone's help – she was stuck.

She'd trusted Naruto, and he'd _left_, just… crashed a whole wall and _left_.

She was in huge, huge trouble. Gaara was going to _kill_ her.

And for the first time since they'd been turned, they'd lost a victim. And the consequences of losing a victim were dire – she and Kankarou would be required to kill their own victims within the next week, unless they managed to find Naruto first. And then they were all required to take more victims from the same village as punishment.

**A/N: Yes, it is day. Yes, Akatsuki travelled in the day time, despite a good deal of them being vampires. Zetsu is a beast like that, he totally just transported them underground, before anyone asks. XD If anyone catches things like that. O_O; **

**Next chapter will be Gaara's meeting thing, and stuff like that. Woo! **


	16. Chapter 14

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Fourteen – The Nine-Tails Escapes…! And Gaara Gets Bad News?_

Gaara sat down in the last available chair, glaring down the entire Akatsuki as he sat. They had arranged the room so that all of the chairs were in a semi-circle shape and facing his seat, like they were putting him on trial or something.

And every single member of the Akatsuki was there. Every member except the leader and his woman was staring him down, waiting to deliver some news to him.

Everyone from the usual Sasori and Deidara to the somewhat atypical Itachi and Kisame, all the way over in oddity to the never-seen Hidan and Kakuzu and the believed-to-be-nonexistent Zetsu, was sitting there, staring him down.

What was so important that _every single one of them_ had to be there?

"Gaara, we won't pretend that you're interested in small talk about how you're doing or," Sasori glared over at Deidara, "How you're handling your victim. So we'll go ahead and explain what we're doing here."

Gaara's glare intensified, urging them onward past the formalities and introductions.

"You are aware that you are the container for a demon, correct?"

Gaara paused, and growled through gritted teeth, "I have no demon – it's just me and my mother here."

"What the fuck is up with this kid? Seriously," Hidan huffed and sank back against his chair. "It's not your mother, stupid – it's a fucking demon. I mean, _hell_, I know Shukaku drives people insane, but if you think that thing is your _mother…_" He laughed, head rolling back against the back of the chair.

Gaara glanced down at the flooring. Good, it was one of the ones made of the hard clay. A piece broke off from the ground and speared up, striking Hidan through the chest – and Gaara didn't even have to move a muscle. No, he just let his mother do all the work.

Hidan looked down at the offending wound. It hurt, yeah, but if he didn't _say_ anything about it hurting like '_fucking hell mother-fucker, getting speared through the chest really fucking hurt oh holy shit what in the fuck…' _"Y'know that doesn't work on me, right? Seriously. Kakuzu, would ya mind clearing this up later?" he asked as he pulled himself out of his chair and slowly walked backwards, effectively walking off of the spear.

"I'm not sure I should help the kind of idiot that would taunt a sanity-challenged individual," Kakuzu muttered. Plus, he was damn tired of sewing Hidan's stupid ass back together.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What if I pay you?" Hidan said the last words mockingly.

Kakuzu opened his mouth to say that, yes, payment would be acceptable, but Sasori beat him to the punch. "This is no some stupid immortal comedy act, it's a serious meeting," he bit out, quickly shutting the two of them up. He turned to face Gaara. "At any rate," he said, turning to glare at Hidan and Kakuzu for interrupting, "Your 'mother' is going to need to be taken out of you – we need her for… certain things."

"You are _not_ taking my mother," Gaara growled.

"Fine, then we're taking the Shukaku out," Sasori said with a sigh. "We'll leave your mom, but we'll have to take the demon out. We need him for our own project."

"And. What is that project?"

"We need him to infuse into one of us," Sasori responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

'_Ask which one! Ask which one, Gaara!'_

"_Why does it matter, Mother?"_

'_It… it just does!"_

"Which one?"

Sasori leaned forward, as if appraising each member. They all looked at each other, just realizing that they weren't sure who should go with who.

"Well. I guess that'd be me, un," Deidara said.

"Yeah, it makes sense for him to get the wea—" Hidan started to say 'weakest,' but Kakazu had clamped a hand around his mouth.

"Shut up," Kakuzu hissed before releasing him.

"Yeah, whatever, un. He's Earth elemental and he'll probably help with my C4 jutsu. So shut the hell up, or I'll make you shut up," Deidara said, standing up as if to punch Hidan.

"Deidara…" Sasori said, shooting Deidara the only look that could really stop him in his tracks. Deidara sunk back into his chair with a grunt, still staring at Hidan like a petulant child.

'_Gaara, if you agree with them and they take out the Shukaku, I, your mother, am going to be even closer to you – you'll be able to see me. See, Gaara dear, I'm separated from you by the chasm that is the Shukaku – if they get rid of me, we can really be together, and you'll never be alone.'_

"… _really?"_

'_Would I lie to you, Gaara? Just be a good boy and do what they tell you.'_

"… What does it entail?"

* * *

The light blinded Naruto's eyes as he propelled forward through the dunes of sand. It was bright, hot, but _oh_ was it magnificent! The air was clean and bright and he felt so much more _alive _than he had in the last year. He flung himself across the sand, stumbling as he sprinted, mostly because he was moving so fast across unstable ground that balance was an issue.

He ran until the tall sky-scraper of a adobe building was out-of-sight, ran until his lungs stung for breath and until his muscles ached for rest. He was sweating and the effects of the Kyuubi's extra chakra were starting to wear off – now his throat was aching for water, a thirst that so burned his throat to be quenched that he felt like he was going to drown in dryness.

"_We did it, Kyuu,"_ Naruto panted even in his thoughts, collapsing just in sight of the bustling city. The building that the vampires ran wasn't far from the city at all, just perhaps a mile, which vampires and ninja could traipse in less than no time, so long as it was night and there wasn't a major storm going on.

'_That we did, kid. So. To the Mist?'_

The plan was to live out the next few years as a rogue ninja in the Mist. Naruto had been there before, he knew he could handle the environment. Then, he could make money as an assassin or whatever work he could get his hands on for the next few years, build back up his strength.

And then, by the time his sentence was supposed to be up with Naruto anyways, he'd go back to the Leaf. Shino and Shikamaru would be there, waiting for him, significantly more scarred and less muscular than he was, but alive and well enough.

He'd go back to his old team of Sasuke, Sakura, and even that pervy-ninja Kakashi, eat ramen with Iruka, and everything would go back to normal.

Right?

That was the plan, anyways.

After catching his breath, letting himself seep back into normal Naruto, he took a deep breath and mumbled aloud, "Alright, Kyuu, let's go check out the village."

He'd need food. And water. And clothes. And weapons.

All of which he'd probably have to steal. But hey, he was a ninja, and ninjas did worse things. Besides – he had no money and no time to _earn_ anything, so he'd just have to come by things as he could. Being locked up in one room for the past few weeks, combined with being locked up in just one building for the last _year_ had really done some damage on his moral integrity.

* * *

"Oh fuck, what did I do?" Temari mumbled to herself, pacing around in the hallway.

"What. Happened?" Kankarou demanded, still trying to get a straight answer out of her. He'd heard the crash, knew Naruto was nowhere in sight – but it hadn't quite clicked for him yet that Naruto was gone.

It was inconceivable!

"I just…" Temari took a breath. "Okay. So. I took him to the baths to, you know, wash some of that stink off of him. I locked the door and went back to his room to clean, and then when I went _back_ to the bathroom, there was a huge crash and then I opened the door and there was a hole in the wall and he was _gone_," she paused, and then said, "I'm dead!"

"You're not dead, you're just panicking. Look, there are protocols in place in case this happens. And Gaara might get mad, but he won't _kill_ you – the Akatsuki won't let him, because without you, there's even less of a safety guard on Gaara. Right?"

Temari nodded slowly.

"So. We just have to kill our victims and get new ones from Konoha. It's been a year, so they'll be plenty of good candidates, and we'll be fine," Kankarou said. "Besides, Naruto probably won't last long anyways, he's going to die in the desert."

"You're right," she said, gaining back her usual composure. She straightened up, worry draining from her face. "Gaara won't be happy, but when is he ever? I'll just be sure to tell him as soon as possible, so that the Akatsuki is still here and there are more people to intervene in case he goes crazy."

Her hands snaked around her stomach subconsciously, remembering the last time an Akatsuki member had to 'intervene.'

She wasn't looking forward to this time, either.

* * *

"Well, it basically entails putting you into a large extraction device and then pulling the demon out of you. It'll take a lot of chakra and you'll nearly die, but if you have enough blood on hand you should pull through just fine. It'll take a few days to get you through it, but once you're through, the Shukaku shouldn't be a problem for you anymore," Sasori explained, leaning forward on his hands. "It'll be painful, but it isn't as if you have a choice in the matter."

"… I can handle pain," Gaara said, as if accusing Sasori of saying otherwise. But the statement wasn't actually true – he'd only felt any amount of pain twice. Once was when Naruto flung him across the room, but the first was when he was turned.

That was it. Just twice. He hadn't really been tested in that category well enough to know whether or not he _could_ withstand, he just assumed so.

"So we have your full support on this?" Itachi asked, an eyebrow rising up in question.

Gaara stared forward for a moment before answering the question with the slightest of nods.

"Very well. We'll schedule the extraction for five days from now," Sasori said.

He had fudged the truth a bit, however. Gaara would _probably_ die. There was only a two percent chance of survival, and that was taking vampirism into account. But on the bright side, whether he lived or not, he'd no longer be a threat – he'd be weak and easier to control, or dead.

And really, either way was fine with Sasori.

* * *

Naruto grabbed a handful of sand and scraped it against his skin, letting the fine dust cover his face in a thin layer to help hide his identity. He wiped away the excess, hoping that it covered up the tell-tale whisker marks on his face, as well as made his skin tone look a bit darker.

Or at the very least, gave him the appearance of having just won against a sandstorm.

When he got to town, he snuck into an empty house's backyard and grabbed a thin cloak off of the line, wrapping it around his torso and flipping the hood up to cover the shock of bright blond hair. Sure, there were blonds like Temari in Suna, but it wasn't generally the same tone of blond that Naruto had.

Naruto's hair was much, _much _brighter.

Naruto walked near the entrance of the busy market, discretely making Shadow Clone seals under his cloak in the alleyway. He had each of his clones take off their cloaks before sending them into the busy market to pick pockets, grab loose change off of the ground, and take any money purses – but not from women or children – that were hanging loosely.

It wouldn't be a problem if one of them got caught, because they could just dissipate and no one would recognize Naruto as them, not with the cloak.

He suddenly 'remembered' getting his wrist grabbed and then fading to black in the weird way that you always 'remembered' what a Shadow Clone went through before they got attacked hard enough to make them disappear into a cloud of smoke. His other two were fine, though, and came back to him with a good deal of money.

He bought a bag and all the apples and bread that could fit in the bag, as well as four canteens for water – you couldn't be too careful, especially when you were crossing a desert. Naruto wasn't sure that he could get through in the short time he had been able to back before he'd become a victim, but…

He was suddenly realizing how exhausted he was. He checked his leftover money and decided he deserved to check into a cheap Inn, at least for the night. He could sleep, bathe again, sleep some more, chow down on real food, sleep again, and then leave early in the morning.

That was the plan.

* * *

Temari and Kankarou stood outside of the meeting room door, masks of typical demeanor covering up the under layers of panic. The door swung open to reveal Gaara, who seemed to be at first taken aback that they were there, and then… angry.

"What are you two doing here? This was a private meeting," he said, his tone accusing them of eavesdropping. Besides – he didn't want his brother or sister to know about the extraction. If they knew he might die, they might… try to force it to happen, just to get it out of the way.

"Naruto escaped," Temari said simply.

"What?"

Temari sighed. "I was letting him take a bath, because he was _disgusting_ and I nearly throw up every time I go to his room to give him food. You know, since you stopped letting him use the bathroom or bathe?" she said, eyes narrowing in judgmental accusation. Yeah, you know what to do Temari, turn the tables on him and get the upper-hand.

Even if there was no winning in this situation.

"And he _escaped_?" Gaara hissed. He lifted his hand, as if he were about to use a jutsu or hit or something, put Sasori was by his side, a firm hand on his shoulder in an instant. He emitted a calming blood jutsu, the one thing that was really effective at calming Gaara down, aside from his mother.

Not that his mother usually wanted him calm.

"Relax, Gaara… just think… this means more victims, and you get to punish your new victims for Naruto's actions… you'll get to rip so many more people than usual to shreds, see…?" Gaara nodded numbly, entranced. Sasori turned to Kankarou and Temari, face shifting from hypnotic to serious in a second. "You know the correct procedure. Your victims _must_ be dead by this time tomorrow, and Konoha's Hokage should be informed within the week. Also, order a page for Naruto in the Bingo Book. He'd better return here with his head on a _platter_."

* * *

"I'm starting to get worried," Shino said after a period of silence. The two of them had started playing chess, despite the jab earlier against Kankarou about leaving out board games. Shino was a good tactical thinker, slightly better than Temari in defensive maneuvers, but worse in offensive.

"Worried? About vampires?" Shikamaru said with a laugh as he moved his bishop diagonally three blocks.

"I know it's ridiculous, but there is something unsettling about it all," Shino said, moving his rook to capture the bishop.

Without thinking, Shikamaru grabbed his queen and moved it diagonally just beside where Shino's rook _had_ been, leaning back and proclaiming, "Checkmate. You're really not focused, huh?" Shikamaru leaned back in his chair. "Well, it's gotta be something with Naruto. I just hope h didn't do anything stupid."

"Such as?" Shino stopped staring at the board, looking for a way to make the checkmate a check, but there was none.

"Well, you know what happens if he managed to escape."

"… I am not aware of that, no."

"Well, it's written down in the information for candidates, but I guess not many people bothered reading it. So you didn't?"

"I skimmed it, but I had estimated the chances of a walking bug colony getting picked to be nonexistent, and I was exhausted from training. It was poor judgment on my part, obviously. What did it say on the matter?"

"Yeah, and I figure Naruto didn't bother reading the damn thing, either. He's not much of a reader," Shikamaru sighed. "If one of us escapes, victims from the same village get killed, and the village the escapee is from has to send a whole new bunch of candidates. You know, send a message."

"… and we all happen to be from the same village."

"Exactly."

"That is worrisome," Shino said. "But there has not been an escape to date, correct?"

"Yeah, no one's ever managed it. I figure Naruto hit someone or did something stupid like that. If someone ever escapes from here, it sure as hell won't be _Naruto_. So I think we're good, they're just off yelling at Naruto for whatever he did."

"Yes, I do suppose it is unlikely he escaped," Shino nodded. He silently started arranging the board back to the default positions, Shikamaru sitting back straight in his chair to do the same.

Chess, chess, and more chess. What else was there to do?

* * *

Temari opened the door and did a 'come here' motion to Shikamaru. Shikamaru looked down at the board before saying, "Well, good games, but I would have won this one in three turns anyways," he said with a shrug. "Later," he said, getting up and walking towards Temari, following her out of the room.

Kankarou sat across from Shino, an odd look on his face. Shino had no idea how to read it, it was something completely unique.

"May I say something?" Shino asked, after a lengthy silence.

"What?" Kankarou replied, the ghost of a sigh to his words.

"I'm sorry for earlier. It is rare that I act in such a manner, and even if you are a vampire, there was no excuse for it. Your sexuality is no one's business but your own, and whoever you should choose to… well. At any rate. I apologize."

No one had ever apologized to Kankarou for anything like that, not anything that really mattered to him, anyways.

"So… like. Teasing people, that's unusual for you?"

"Yes. I have only done it with one other, and that was my male teammate in Konoha… he was abrasive and idiotic, and talked far too much, even during missions. But despite that, I… felt close enough to him to tease him. But it was never anything as personal as sexuality, and for that, I apologize."

"… so… that means… you actually kind of like me, huh?"

"I did not say that," Shino said in the I'm-denying-it-but-I-don't-really-mean-it sort of manner.

Kankarou laughed and said, "You know, I had a victim say that the day before we sent him home, but I swear to god that when we tried to send him home he like, clung to me and started bawling, and Temari was like, '… Stockholm Syndrome?' So I told the guy, look here, if you still feel this way in a year, I'll turn you. When I visited him a year later, though, he threw a kunai at me! Crazy bastard…"

As Kankarou told his ridiculous story, Shino sat down on his bed and sank back, an inward smile playing on his mask of a face. Yeah, they were back to normal. That was how Shino liked it.

"What happened earlier?" Shino said after Kankarou finished his story, suddenly realizing that he'd meant to ask, but had forgotten.

"Oh, that noise? Yeah, that was just Zetsu," Kankarou rolled his eyes. "The Akatsuki like showing off 'cause they can travel during the day with Zetsu underground. But every time he comes, he's gotta like, make a huge hole in the floor. It's seriously costly in repairs."

Kankarou lied, yes. Zetsu had a permanent hole in their building, and he only came with the rest of the Akatsuki when they traveled underground in case a cave-in or something should happen. Zetsu was silent, even when he had to make a hole, unless Deidara wanted to help blast one open.

But he wasn't sure that telling Shino would make him feel more at ease… nor was he sure that he really wanted to kill him.

* * *

As soon as the door shut, Temari turned to Shikamaru. "Naruto escaped," she stated, her voice deadpan. She didn't want to kill Shikamaru, but it was procedure.

She had to.

By the way Shikamaru reacted – no excitement for Naruto, no pride, just a look – Temari knew that he knew what it meant.

"… heh. Shino and I guessed it."

"What?" Temari bit out, thinking that he meant 'guessed he'd escape,' rather than guessed that was what all the commotion earlier was about.

"I meant earlier today," Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes. Not that whether she was angry or not mattered. "… so. How does this work?" he sunk onto his bed

"Well, we have until tomorrow, by the same time Naruto escaped," she sat down beside him, a concerned look on her face. She rarely felt anything but admiration towards Shikamaru, and even that was hidden by a mask of distaste. She admired his mind, his quips, but…

She wasn't going to let herself get closer.

"Until then, it's anything you want. Last meal, we can play whatever you want all night, you can wear whatever you want… I'm not looking forward to it, so it's going to be as last minute as possible." She didn't want to say, 'and besides, our guards are looking for him, so this might not be an issue at all,' because she didn't want to give him any false hope.

And he was under-reacting for one very good reason.

He hadn't expected to survive his time there in the first place.

But now that his days were numbered – and that number was _one_ – he did have one thing that was still bugging him.

"Anything I want?" Shikamaru quirked up an eyebrow. He wasn't going to let Temari back out of this one.

Temari wrapped her arms across her chest, as if she were hiding them from view. "Anything that's not some pervy kid's last wish to have sex before he dies," she said, as if accusing her of having sex.

"Ugh, how troubles… have I _ever _hit on you? Sheesh, you…" he shook his head. "But other than that, anything?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What did you show Naruto in the baths that last time?"

"You still _think_ about that?" she let out a small scream. "Why won't you drop that?" her voice was rising, she was yelling now.

"Yeah, that's all I really want. I wanna know what you showed him, and grilled fish for dinner, but that's it," he folded his arms across his chest, daring her to deny him his last wish.

"That's it?" she asked, her voice hitting a strange loud note. It was like was accusing him of not asking for _more_, but…

Shikamaru didn't speak sneaky girl, even with all of his carefully planned strategies. "Yeah… that's it," he stated, nodding slowly, going over his words. Had she been hinting towards him asking for something in particular? Did she _want_ him to try to get laid before he died or something?

He wasn't about to try, just in case. If she wanted him to, he'd go for it, but any more effort than that was troublesome.

"Fine. I showed Naruto my scar – Gaara gave it to me right before I was turned. It was such a bad scar and Sasori didn't have enough blood to heal it up, so I have a horrible, horrible scar on my stomach. Happy?" she put her hand on her hip and demanded the question.

She didn't like being pressured about anything, especially the scar.

"… Well, I'm definitely not happy that you have a scar that bothers you so much that just talking about it makes you go crazy," he said sarcastically. "But that's it? Like, no extra limb, no hole straight through your body? That's boring… I thought it had something to do with a bloodline limit you guys had or something."

She had been expecting him to ask to see it. She wasn't quite prepared for the turn the conversation took. She let out a sharp laugh before shaking her head. "I'll go see about your fish," she said, still in complete shock.

Shikamaru had, after all, been raised all around scars. His dad had two straight across his face that had never phased him, and his mother had one on her back he'd never asked about. Ninjas had scars – even the family of ninjas had scars. It was just a fact. It wasn't like her head looked like Ibiki's, the Chunin examiner who'd been horribly tortured.

It wasn't a fetish or anything, but it wasn't a deal-breaker, either. He didn't think scars detracted from beauty, either – he just thought of them as physical manifestations of stories he'd never ask about because they were too painful.

He'd made the mistake of asking his dad. And then his dad got _hammered_ and told him the whole story before throwing up in Chouji's yard. Yeah, that had been an awkward team meeting the next day. But at least he knew now that it was torture imposed by some Grass-nin using a poisoned kunai who'd gotten interrupted by Ino's dad before it got _too_ horrific.

His mind shifted from his father to the upcoming day. He was going to _die_ soon. How would they do it? Who would carry on the Nara name and become the next Shika of the Ino-Shika-Chou team?

And the scariest question of all, who out of all his comrades would get chosen? It had been a year – so many of his friends could have become Chunin by now. Chouji, Ino, they probably got their shit together after he left. Ino's best friend was probably safe… Shino's guy teammate, the Inuzuka guy was a possibility, if he stepped up his game between then and now, but Hinata Hyuuga was safe just because she was the heir to the Hyuuga clan anyways. Neji would be up, and maybe one or both of his teammates. Sasuke Uchiha, that bastard was gonna be just fine, since he was the _only_ Uchiha left.

Then again, did clans even matter when a guy escaped?

More than anything, more than death, more than it being painful, Shikamaru worried about the Leaf. The Leaf could have been just fine without him or Shino… Naruto was a loss, because of the Kyuubi, but the Leaf couldn't exactly tell the Akatsuki that to get him out of candidacy, could they?

Well, at the very least, the one out of three of them that was worth anything in the long run got away. Maybe he'd make up being the cause of death of five comrades up in the future, maybe he'd never get the chance.

Who knew?

**A/N: I withheld uploading this chapter because I didn't want to leave on another cliffhanger. D; It's a bit longer than usual, since I got lost in Shikamaru's inner monologue or whatever. Next chapter, Shikamaru and Shino getting axed because of Naruto's dumb ass! **


	17. Chapter 15

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Fifteen – And So, They Die_

Naruto woke up slowly, staring at the beams of sunlight that filtered through the window. He'd forgotten how much he missed seeing the sun everyday – for nearly a year, all he could see was the dim, fluorescent lighting of the Suna sibling's inner sanctum. But now, now he was really _free_.

He woke up, did his morning calisthenics (he'd only started doing them when he joined up with the Suna siblings, to keep himself limber in the small, confined space), and greeted the slowly-roused Kyuubi with a chipper squawk of an inward hello.

'_Ugh, I know you're all happy and stuff, kid, but it's what, eight in the morning? I'm going back to sleep…'_

"_Don't be so lazy, Kyuu! It's not like you _do_ anything all day, anyways."_

'_Excuse me? If it weren't for me, you'd still be the personal keg for that little bastard.'_

"_Yeah, yeah, Kyuu…"_ Naruto didn't feel like arguing, not now, not while he was free.

He pulled on his stolen clothes before heading out to the market. He bought another set of clothes, one that concealed his identity even better – a tight undershirt, baggy pants, a different hooded cloak (just in case the other cloak owners noticed him and accused him of stealing), and a mask, on that was very… Kakashi.

He was headed back to his room to put on the clothes when he saw ninja shifting through the marketplace, asking questions and holding up a picture of him. Naruto ducked into a back alley, concentrating on concealing himself, until they finally left.

"What an idiot," a stall-running lady spat. "Doesn't he care about his village at _all_?"

"You'd think a ninja wouldn't be such a coward," someone else agreed.

"It is a shame – the Leaf and the Sand have been on such good terms. I doubt that'll continue for much longer," an older man agreed, shaking his head sadly.

"_Kyuu… Kyuu! Kyuu! What're they talking about?"_ Naruto was screaming at him in his head, yelling, forcing the Kyuubi to wake up.

'_Ugh… what, kid, you're surprised?'_

"_Surprised about what? What's going on?"_

'_Kid… just go to the Mist, it's not your problem.'_

The Kyuubi wasn't going to tell him. He'd have to find out for himself.

He was planning on going back to his hotel room to change, but instead, he just started changing his clothes in the alleyway. He bundled the clothes he'd been wearing and stuck them behind a barrel, pulled the mask over his face, and flipped up his hood. He was going to find out where he'd fucked up, whether Kyuubi told him or not.

* * *

Temari, after bringing Shikamaru his fish dinner, spent the rest of the night with him, trying not to let him think about death or dying or the little time he had left. They played chess all night, Temari talked here and there about victims she used to have and different fights she'd been in since she'd been turned. In between every story Shikamaru would ask a question about something, usually death or what going back to Konoha might have been like, when he finally asked the big question.

"So… what did it feel like, y'know, getting turned?"

"Well… I died," she said with a shrug. "It was scary, like I was drowning in darkness. And it hurt a lot, 'cause of… I was wounded. And then Sasori numbed me and turned me, and I suddenly wasn't drowning in the darkness anymore. But then I passed out, so…" she gave him a 'there isn't much to tell' kind of smirk.

"What's the scar from?"

"…" she considered not telling him or lying, but well. He was going to die soon, anyways, and he'd be taking the information to the grave. There was no reason to keep it from him – not really, anyways. "My crazy ass brother. He was trying to kill someone else, and didn't care that I was in the crossfire."

"So…"

"He impaled me, and that's when Sasori showed up to turn us. It was like he knew," her eyes narrowed into suspicion. She'd suspected something fishy had gone on that night, had suspected it for decades, but there was no way of actually knowing. Not really, anyways.

It was funny how much getting turned actually calmed Gaara down.

"Fucking _ow_," Shikamaru said, the inflection of his voice relaying all the sympathy he needed to, without his gaze leaving the chess board.

She laughed. "Yeah, that's what I said when I woke up before I started screaming for food. Bloodlust when you first get turned is _crazy_. I don't miss being young at _all._"

"Being a vampire is troublesome, too, huh?"

"More than you can imagine."

* * *

Kankarou hurried into Shino's room, looking up and down the hallway for… anyone, really. But he was really making sure that no one from the Akatsuki was coming to bother him.

Sasori and Deidara had decided to stay until Shikamaru and Shino's appointed death time, just to make sure that it went down like it was supposed to know. Until then, they were taking care of some of the annoying annual budget stuff, strolling around looking for things that needed to be repaired. Or they were off fucking in a storeroom or an empty guestroom somewhere.

Both were likely.

"Shino. Take off your shirt," Kankarou said as soon as he came in, as soon as he was sure he wasn't being followed. Shino blinked a few times before slowly shuffling the shirt off, used to the feeding protocol, but not used to the quickly demanding tone he was using.

"Is something wrong…?" Shino asked as he folded his shirt and tossed it to the end of his bed.

"No, nothing is wrong, I swear," Kankarou said. The last two words didn't sooth Shino's suspicion, but he stopped asking about it. It wasn't like Kankarou was going to tell him, anyways.

Kankarou put a hand on his shoulder and used his numb blood jutsu before he bit down, drinking much more quickly and deeper than he usually did. Shino didn't say anything until he started to really feel the effects. "Kanka—" as soon as he opened his mouth, Kankarou clamped his hand over Shino's mouth, pushing him against the wall.

Shino started struggling against him, so Kankarou emitted a calming blood jutsu, tranquilizing him as he kept drinking.

When Shino had so little blood he was in danger of actually _dying_, Kankarou finally pulled away. He wrapped his arms around Shino, pulling him into his lap and wrapping his arms around Shino. Shino was so tranquil and sedated that he was practically a limp doll, moving where Kankarou shifted him, even if that place was his _lap_.

Kankarou pulled a knife out of his pocket and sliced open his wrist, blood starting to ooze out almost as soon as he made the cut. He pressed his wrist to Shino's mouth. Shino's mouth quickly filled up with blood, the blood spilling over the sides.

He wasn't swallowing.

Kankarou stroked his throat, trying to get him to involuntarily swallow, because he wasn't really conscious enough to swallow it on his own.

Finally, Shino took in a huge gulp. His eyes shifted from the glazed-over hypnotized look to surprised – he was finally conscious enough to understand what was going on. He started flailing, started trying to push himself out of Kankarou's lap. Kankarou, however, was much stronger and held him down, forced the blood down his throat.

Shino was getting turned whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Naruto went back through the marketplace, asking questions as he bought more food, even if it was a surplus. Market-stall owners were more likely to talk if you were a customer, more so than if you were just some passerby.

"So, what's the deal with the guy who left?" Naruto asked as he picked out fruit.

"I guess he was scared of dying or some shit," the woman said as she wrapped it up. "But he got away, first time since Suna started being run by the vampires that it happened. He's probably not the first that _could_, but he's the first that was stupid enough to do it."

"So what's going to happen?"

"Well, the people he left behind are gonna get killed, and the village he came from is going to have to replace all three of 'em. More death, more carnage, all because this guy was a wimp and couldn't accept his own fate. Five lives for the price'a one, ain't that a hell of a deal?"

'_Naruto, kid, don't go back – it's too late, they're dead, there's nothing you can do. It's too late, just worry about yourself and go to the Mist. Shino and Shikamaru are probably already dead, and you won't even know who replaces you. Just go to the Mist, don't worry about anyone else—'_

"So when are the uh, guys that he left behind, when are they getting executed?"

"It's not public, if that's what you're thinkin'," the woman said, giving him a look that plainly warned him against being a voyeur. "But they're gettin' punished for their stupid comrade twenty-four hours after he left, and then they're sendin' out the official letter to Konoha. Those poor bastards don't even _know…_ I dunno whether I'd be more ashamed someone from my own country was that kinda coward, or more depressed about losing even _more_ people I care about," she said, slowly shaking her head.

He had six hours to get back to the building.

_He could make it._

'_Naruto, no, just—'_

Naruto dropped his coin purse on the lady's stall, basically giving her five times as much as the fruit cost. He grabbed a water canteen from the side of her stall, just in case he needed it on the way to the building. He took off, running full speed, knowing he could make it, knowing he _had_ to make it.

He wasn't going to let Shikamaru or Shino die for what he did.

And who knew who was going to replace them? Now, it could be _any one_ of his friends. Most, if not all, were probably Chunin by now. He couldn't let them die or get punished for him being a fucking idiot.

Or even worse, a fucking coward.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Shino finally shouted when Kankarou made him drink all he could, enough to turn him. "Why are you… what…" he sputtered, and suddenly, his stomach was erupting in pain. He clutched at his stomach, doubling over. His bugs were starting to make a horribly loud buzzing noise, started to climb out of his body.

"No… I'm not dying…" he growled out, still clutching his side. His bugs didn't seem to get the message, however, and continued to swarm out of his body. In minutes, they were covering every wall, searching for a way to get out of the room, a crack, a hole, anything.

"What are they doing?" Kankarou shouted over the loud buzzing noise.

"Trying to…. Tell… my dad… I'm dead…" Shino growled out, still clutching his stomach. His whole body was suddenly on fire. "Why…?"

Kankarou pulled Shino back up on the bed and started numbing the pain, hypnotizing Shino into believing that there _wasn't_ any pain, that there wasn't a major change erupting throughout his body right now. "Just sleep… sleep through it… we'll talk later…" Kankarou whispered, holding Shino tightly.

"Don't… don't let… my bugs out…" Shino mumbled as he slowly fell into a deep unconsciousness, a miniature coma. Like a bug entering a cocoon to undergo its metamorphosis.

Kankarou considered leaving, but he decided against it. He wanted Shino to see that he was there the whole time when he woke up. And _then_ he'd explain everything.

But he felt kind of badly for Shino. In five hours, Shino would find out that Naruto was gone, and would probably be hunted down by Suna ninjas until he was killed…. And, of course, Temari would have killed Shikamaru.

When Shino woke up, Kankarou would be the only person in his world. And while he felt badly about causing it, he also kind of looked forward to that kind of dependence… not even just kind of. He was excited, elated by the idea.

Or Shino would hate him. Either way.

* * *

"Come on, Shikamaru. We have to go," Temari said, standing up from her chair. Shikamaru gave her a look that plainly conveyed, 'You really think I'm just going to _follow_ you to my death?'

She groaned and moved to his side, hypnotizing him so that he would follow her. "_Now_ follow me," she demanded. This time, he did – he stood and followed her wordlessly to the door and down the hall. She knew Kankarou would either follow shortly behind her, or would be there waiting when she got there.

'cause what other choice was there?

* * *

Naruto burst into the front of the building. There were about a dozen Suna ninja just standing around, staring at him, confused. Yes, it was the headquarters for Suna vampires, but it was also a major ninja hub, and it was extremely unusual for a guy in a cloak and a mask to just burst through the front doors. They still had no idea who he was, or if he was planning on attacking them, or if he was just lost or crazy or something.

Naruto took off his cloak and mask and yelled, "I need to see the vampires _now_. I'm giving myself up, and I need to stop the execution!"

"Are you _serious_?" a random female ninja demanded as she strode up to him, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Come on, you retard. Follow me. I just hope your friends aren't dead yet."

Naruto gulped as he followed behind the lady. It was a good thing he had a guide, or he wouldn't have known where to go, and well. Shikamaru and Shino would have died because he was lost somewhere.

And that would have been the final nail in his coffin.

* * *

Shino woke up after four hours of sleeping. He quickly pushed himself out of Kankarou's lap, away from Kankarou's embrace. His bugs were still swarming, trying to find a way to tell Shibi that Shino was dead.

"Why did you turn me without talking to me about it first?" Shino demanded. "Oh, and come back, I'm _not_ dead," Shino called out to his bugs. "But why?" he said, turning back to glare at Kankarou.

"Because… Naruto escaped yesterday," Kankarou explained.

And then everything dawned on Shino.

He knew what one of them escaping meant. It meant that he and Shikamaru would have been killed for Naruto's escape, and that three more people from the Leaf would have been chosen as victims to further punish Konoha.

And Kankarou hadn't wanted to kill him.

"And you couldn't discuss this with me? You just decided to _turn_ me? Oh, god…"

He'd been planning on returning to the Leaf in two years. He'd planned on seeing Kiba, and Hinata, and Kurenai, and her kid, and his father and his mother and the rest of his family… and then he would have been given another bug colony and taught _all_ of the Aburame family techniques that he hadn't been old enough to learn before, and he would have been entered into an arranged marriage so that he could have kids and he'd have taught his kids how to do everything and it would have been nice, even for a ninja, but now…

All of that was gone.

But he wasn't dead, either.

"I know, I know you're freaking, but it's not so bad…"

"Did Temari turn Shikamaru as well?"

"No… actually, we're supposed to be at the room to… kill you and Shikamaru in front of the Akatsuki."

"You do not think they will kill me anyways?"

"No, no, I'm allowed to take whoever I want as my permanent victim. And I chose you."

"_Why_?"

"… 'cause you're the first person that, I don't know…" Kankarou shrugged. "That kinda actually seemed to care about me who I also really kinda actually liked, and… I wasn't ready to just, y'know, let you die or anything…"

Shino sank to the edge of the bed. He tried calling his bugs to come back inside his body, but they just _wouldn't_. "What now?" he asked.

"We go watch Temari kill Shikamaru and tell everyone that you're a vampire now," Kankarou said with a shrug. "Then later we have to have you drink from me so that we solidify the uh. Vampire-vampiric victim relationship."

So. Shino would have to watch his close comrade die and have to drink blood _again._ He was already starving for more, but he was reserved and was still inwardly disgusted by the idea of drinking it. "Wonderful."

* * *

When Naruto got to the room, Shikamaru and Temari were just standing in the middle of the room, looking more and more impatient. Sasori and Deidara were off to the side of the room, looking less impatient and more… bored.

"The idiot came back of his own free will," the lady ninja said, shoving him forward towards Temari. She left quickly – she didn't want to see Gaara on the off-chance he came around, and she certainly didn't want to be around for vampires screaming at Naruto.

"What the fuck, Naruto?" Temari demanded, moving forward to scream at him. "I almost had to _kill_ Shikamaru! And you know, like, five people from your village probably wouldn't have gotten killed by Gaara _alone_. Do you want that?" she shrieked.

"I didn't know!" Naruto argued back.

"What the fuck do you mean you didn't _know, _we give you guys pamphlets! With this kind of thing in **huge red letters!**What, you saw these papers specifically given to you because you might end up a victim, and you decide you have _better _things to read?"

"I'm sorry," Naruto whined. "I just thought I'd get hunted down for the rest of my life, I didn't know everyone else would get hurt," he gave her his puppy eyes.

Shikamaru and Naruto locked eyes. Naruto gave a small inward gulp – what do you do when your good friend was almost the one to kill you? What did you say?

"In his defense, I think he's illiterate," Shikamaru said with a small grin. He was kind of annoyed that he almost got killed, but well. He didn't. And all in all, he learned stuff he'd been dying to know for a while. So things kind of worked out for him.

"Someone get him the pamphlets with the guidelines. It's probably a little late now, but damn it all, we don't want a repeat of something this _stupid_. Sasori, can you tell Gaara? I'm going to go tell Kankarou before _Kankarou_ do—"

The door swung open to reveal Kankarou. "Sorry I'm late, I…"

And then Kankarou saw Naruto, standing there.

He'd preemptively turned Shino for no good reason.

"Yeah, he came back of his own free will," Temari said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! At least I came back!" Naruto screamed.

"Oh, fuck," Kankarou stated simply.

"What do you mean, 'oh, fuck?' You didn't already kill Shino, did you?" Temari said, a worried look spreading over her face.

"Actually… I kinda did… I turned him."

**A/N: I uploaded two chapters at once so that there wouldn't be **_**another**_** will-they-or-won't-they die cliffhanger. I hate those above all else. With a horrible, horrible passion. The next chapter will be Gaara and Naruto-centric, I promise. Thanks for reviewing, as always! ^_^ **


	18. Chapter 16

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Sixteen – Suna's Demon_

"You did what?" Temari sputtered. She was in absolute shock – it wasn't like the two of them had a pact or anything, but after a century of none of them taking a victim for personal reasons, well… she had expected It would just never happen. Ever. For any one of them. Perhaps of the three, Kankarou was the most likely, but…

She hadn't expected it to be this random.

"I. Turned. Shino. Into. A. Vampire. Because dumbass here had to be… Ugh. Shino, come in."

Shino was down the hall, waiting. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see Shikamaru and besides, his head hurt. He basically sent Kankarou in front of him to get the yelling out of the way before he came forward… aside from the humongous bodily changes, his bugs' loud frenzied hive buzz was also driving a mental spike through his mind.

Shino walked forward when Kankarou told him to, but froze when he looked in the room.

Naruto was standing there, in the middle, just staring at him like… like… a puppy.

"_You_…" Shino growled. Before he realized it, he had jumped him and pinned him to the ground. It was like his world went _red_ when he saw him, red with anger and spite and… _hunger_. Instinctively, his head shot forward for Naruto's neck, ready to rip it open…

And then he was on his ass.

Kankarou had grabbed him by the collar and slammed him backwards, like someone trying to throw a cat out of their yard.

"Come on, Shino, you're not ready to be around people yet… let's get you some food."

"I… I…" Shino stuttered. His mind was clearing up, if still pained, and he was feeling less deathly hungry. "I… Naruto… I… apologize. I don't know what came… over me…"

"A word before you leave," Sasori said from the side of the room, moving forward. Deidara followed, a huge grin in his face, one that plainly read 'I told you so' and 'I knew it' all at the same time. "Kankarou, we do not approve of your hasty and obviously desperate choice of a victim. You are not permitted to teach him any blood jutsu, nor are you to leave him alone until he's been approved by the entire council. Are we understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Kankarou growled out through gritted teeth. "S'that all?" he locked eyes with Deidara, as if daring him to say something.

"Yes, that will be all. I do hope that this one is not as… idiotic as his comrade," Sasori said, throwing a condescending look Naruto's way.

"Speaking of Sir Dumbass himself, we should probably give him to Gaara, shouldn't we?" Deidara said, glancing back at Naruto. He turned back to Kankarou, and just so he could get in a jab before he left, "And leave Kankarou to his new eternal toy, un."

"Whatever," Kankarou growled out, pushing Shino forward. Shino stumbled forward, suddenly getting dizzy. His body was telling him that he was anemic, despite it not having been long since he had fed. He fell backwards, and Kankarou caught him, wrapped Shino's arm around his shoulders, and practically dragged him down the hallway.

"Now that that's handled," Sasori said, his gaze not shifting from Kankarou's retreating form, "Temari, you should take your victim back to his room." Sasori's gaze shifted from Kankarou as he turned the corner, and landed on Naruto. "Follow me to Gaara – there is much for us to discuss with him. You are an idiot, bit you may have lucked out of getting killed for leaving."

"How?"

Sasori cracked a smirk. "We'll get to that when we get to that. Let's just say, you have suddenly become _very_ valuable to Gaara."

* * *

The walk down the hallway was… weird. Sasori led in silence, the two blonds following behind him, Naruto to the left and Deidara to the right. While Sasori was so silent it put Naruto off, Deidara was trying to hard to force conversation that Naruto felt even more awkward.

"So, what did you do when you left? Get laid? There is a good brothel in town that would'a let you in, un. They aren't strict on ages, so long as you look old enough to know where everything goes, un…." And then even more awkward questions, like, "Do you boys ever play in the bath together?" or "Ever hear 'noises' from the other rooms? Even when the victims were alone, un?"

Finally after about six of the perverted questions, Sasori finally snapped out a, "Shut _up_, Deidara, maybe his life doesn't revolve around sex."

Which set Deidara off about some bedroom nonsense, and Naruto decided to go to his relatively happy place.

"_Kyuu, are you still mad at me?"_

'_What the fuck do you think, kid?' _Kyuubi sighed out.

"_Well. Will you stop with the silent treatment? I'm kind of scared here."_

'_You should be. You'll probably die,'_ the Kyuubi yawned. _'Unless that Sasori character is to be believed, anyways."_

Sasori finally opened a door to a darkened room. Naruto could barely see the illuminated back of Gaara's shock-red hair and automatically gulped. What kind of torture would he put him through…?

"Gaara, we shall be doing the extraction tomorrow. The preparations are finished, and we shall be travelling underground. We also have your blood source to supply you," Sasori said, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder and pushing him forward.

"… _you're back?_" Gaara's voice came out as feral and inhuman, more of a hiss than anything. He turned his head,, a crazed look in his eyes.

"If you knew what was best for yourself, Gaara, you'd leave him alone. We're not providing you with another blood source, and without one, you'll die during the procedure – and never get to kill anyone again."

Oh. So that was the angle.

"What do you mean you're extracting his demon?" Naruto shouted, the words suddenly dawning on him, now that he wasn't so worried for his life.

"It's none of your business, boy," Sasori said, glaring down at him. "Whether you kill him or not is up to you – but remember, your life depends on his. And you'll probably kill him draining tomorrow, so that's something else to think about. We'll leave you to it, then."

Sasori turned sharply, slamming the door behind him, leaving Naruto alone in the pitch-black room with Gaara.

The hollow click from the other side of the room made Naruto want to throw up. Correction. He was _locked_ alone in the pitch-black room with Gaara.

* * *

"Where… are we?" Shino mumbled as Kankarou threw open the door that was in a completely different area of the building. If he hadn't been so damn dizzy, he would have been able to tell _easily_ that it was Kankarou's room. The room was full of puppets and jars of strange paints, of unfinished product and materials, of scrolls and strange notes and plans.

"My room. Well, it's ours now, 'cause I ain't spending all my time in your dinky little cell," Kankarou sat Shino down onto the bed carefully. The bed was just… in the middle of the room. There was no structure to the room at all. There were desks and chairs all over the edges, a bed in the middle, and there was no form or function to the things hanging on the walls.

If Shino had felt up to it, he would have said the room was a disgrace.

"I don't wanna share a room with you… and why do you have a bed…. Vampires don't sleep…"

"Yes, we do. Just… not for long enough to matter," Kankarou said with a slight huff to his voice. "Besides, I like reading laying down, so what?" As he spoke, he was taking off his shirt and tossing it to the side. "I'm going to teach you how you're supposed to feed. Sasori pisses me off with that blood jutsu shit, 'cause I can't numb _myself, _and I can't teach _you_ how to do it… ugh. Anyways."

Kankarou took a marker from his desk and drew two small points on his neck, the perfect place to aim for when feeding. It was far over enough that you weren't going to rip someone's throat out, just in the hollow part of the collar bone. "Feel your fangs. Notice that they _aren't_ your canines? They're closer to the front – that's important. Anyways. Do your best to go for these points, go in like a straw in a juice box, then pull out and drink. Easy."

Shino glared at him, a disbelieving look on his face. "Like a juice box? _Really_?"

"Shut up and do it," Kankarou demanded before turning his head to the side, a cringe on his face.

"Can't you just make a cut…?" the fact that he'd have to get so close to Kankarou, that _he'd _be the one instigating the physical contact didn't set right with him. If he pressed _his_ body to Kankarou's, it was almost like he was accepting that they had a physical relationship.

Which they did, whether he liked it or not.

"No. You'll get too weak just drinking from my wrist; you get more if you make the bite yourself. Now shut up and do it," Kankarou snapped.

Shino almost said, 'It's not like I asked for any of this,' but his head started swimming again, so he decided to go ahead and do what Kankarou asked him to do. It didn't seem like such a bad idea, when his sight was dancing around and his stomach felt lighter than air…

Shino very carefully climbed on top of Kankarou's lap, because of course the pen marks were on the left instead of the right, which was the side that Shino had been on. He was trying not to fall out of Kankarou's lap, so his thin, spindly fingers were wrapped around Kankarou's relatively large arms. He tried to keep their bodies as far apart as possible, craning his neck so that he didn't have to…

"Just do it," Kankarou growled out for the third time after a few minute of Shino's pussy-footing around the first bite.

Kankarou braced himself for the bite. It came much harder and at some kind of weird angle. Kankarou let out a hiss and pushed Shino's head away, blood pouring out of the bite. "Fuck, too late to fix anything. Just drink the damn blood," Kankarou huffed, moving his arms from around Shino to behind him, leaning on the edges of his hand while Shino drank.

It felt really weird to have someone on top of him, feeding from him. He couldn't help but wonder when the last time he'd gotten _laid_ was. It was almost depressing how hard he had to think to think back that far.

That dude from the Mist? It couldn't have been _that_ long ago…

Shino paused in his feeding, stopping abruptly rather than gradually slowing. He pulled away and looked down, a look of shock crossing his face. "Is there any particular reason that…"

"Just ignore it, I'm not asking you to do anything about it or anything," Kankarou grumbled, knowing better than to ask 'for a hand,' even as a joke. "Keep going!" Kankarou finally barked, the awkwardness growing into full-on embarrassment after Shino spent so long staring down.

Damn Aburame.

* * *

"I'm going to kill you tomorrow, you know," Gaara said after a long silence.

"I don't care anymore," Naruto said with a sigh, shifting backwards until he felt his back hit the wall. He'd heard Gaara's voice from the opposite side of the room, but it wasn't like he could see him or anything. Not in the pitch-darkness of the room.

"Why not?"

"'cause I'm probably gonna die either way," Naruto finally admitted out loud, "And so long as Shikamaru and Shino don't… well. So long as Shikamaru doesn't die, or anyone else from the Leaf, it's okay."

"That's stupid."

Another pause. Naruto wasn't sure how to interact with Gaara. All he could think about was the harsh feedings, the cruel threats, the looks of extreme hatred as Gaara dug his fangs into his neck.

They'd never really spoken, outside of Gaara's outrageous demands and Naruto's whining about needing food or painless feedings.

"Aren't you scared?"

"Mother says it will be okay."

"… what if they take your mother?" Naruto knew that if they took the demon, they'd be taking his 'mother,' but he wasn't so sure that Gaara understood that. "You'd be all alone."

"Mother wouldn't leave me. She loves me."

"Yeah, but what are you going to do if she has no choice but to leave you? What if someone made you feel as empty and alone as you guys made the three of _us_ feel when you took us from Konoha, away from our families? What are you going to do if they actually manage to _hurt_ you?"

By the end of the rant, Naruto was screaming and raving. He'd moved from sitting on the ground against the wall to standing in the middle of the room, yelling where he thought that Gaara was.

When he finished screaming, a clawed hand was suddenly around his throat, shoving him back to the wall.

"It. Will. Never. Happen," Gaara growled, his voice tinged on the edge of insanity.

"Yeah, but what if it does? Who else cares about you? Has your mother even _talked_ to you recently?"

The last one was a shot in the dark, but it was a good guess. Naruto knew demons – as soon as they found out they didn't need you anymore, they tossed you aside without a care. If Gaara's demon was anything like Kyuubi, his demon wouldn't have bothered with him anymore once he found out he was getting a stronger, older host.

Gaara's hand slid from Naruto's throat to his chest, and like a small child, he pressed his forehead against Naruto's neck. Naruto wasn't sure how to react – at least, he wasn't sure until he felt wet eat enveloping his chest.

Gaara. The crazy bastard who'd nearly killed him on multiple occasions. The guy that made him use his own room as a bathroom. The guy that neglected him and probably would have let him starve to death.

That same guy was suddenly against his chest, crying like a two-year-old.

* * *

"So you were really going to kill me, then?" Shikamaru asked as he moved chess piece after chess piece, Temari sitting across from the room.

"I can't believe he did that," Temari said in response.

"What? Didn't kill his victim?"

"I can't believe he turned a guy."

"Not just any guy. I like to think all of us have gotten closer to you guys over the last year or so."

"I never would have thought Kankarou would turn someone."

"You vampires are troublesome, and we're talking about two different things."

"My _brother_ is in a committed _relationship_."

"… what?" Shikamaru was finally on the same track as Temari, finally actually paying attention to what she was saying.

"What, they don't teach that in the vampire classes? I guess it only matters to the vampires… look, if a vampire turns another vampire to be his 'eternal victim,' he's got to see that vampire at least once a day, every day, for the rest of his life."

"Yeah, but it's not like they have to spend all their time around each other… can't they just like, meet up once a day for dinner and go on?"

"No, you don't understand… turning someone creates a link between the two of you. Vampires, when they drink… that's about the only time they can get turned on, or for guys, even _get_ it up."

"So it's either have sex with the person that turned you or not at all?"

"Yeah. And believe me, a lot of guys have gone into something like that with the 'I'll just stay celibate the rest of my life' mentality, but it never works. At least Deidara and Sasori basically _wanted_ to… but it took Itachi and Kisame like. A few decades to give in."

"Why not just drink from other people?"

"After you turn someone and do the blood bond with them, other people's blood tastes _terrible_ to you. It'll sustain you, but it seriously makes you want to throw up and kind of debilitates your blood jutsu. That's why normal vampires take a while to chose their victims – but keeping in mind that humans are too human to become a vampire after a certain age, well. It's not a very large window."

There was a pause as Shikamaru mulled everything over. When he was done thinking, he finally asked, "So how often do you have sex, anyways?"

Temari looked at him, clucked her tongue, and said, "I have sex with every third victim, and I pick every third victim just for that purpose. So I basically have a bunch of sex for three years, hold back for six, and then do it all over again. But they never get to see me naked."

"What number am I?"

"The guy after you is lucky number three. Like I'd pick someone from _Konoha_ to be my sex victim, please. The Mist really is the best for that…"

"Poor bastard."

"Yeah, he really is," Temari said, completely serious, not taking offense to the insult at all. "Every time I do one, they assume I'm going to turn them, just because I've been having sex with them for three years. They always leave disappointed, especially the ones from the villages where getting turned is considered the highest honor. Kiss-asses," Temari said, rolling her eyes.

* * *

"Hey, hey it's okay," Naruto said, slowly wrapping his arms around him.

'_Kid. Kid. What the fuck are you doing.'_

It wasn't even a question – it was like a statement, meant to make Naruto actually realize what he was doing.

"_I know what I'm doing. Shut up, Kyuubi."_

"Seriously. It'll be fine. You're not going to get left alone. You got a brother and a sister who care about you – you still got family."

"They don't care about me. They hate me. I deserve it."

"Yeah, but people have made up for worse…" or at the very least, made up for stuff that was just as bad. And Temari and Kankarou were relatively level-headed – they'd understand the huge change in Gaara was real if it occurred after the demon was extracted.

"… Mother?"

Oh, shit.

"But… he's helping me… yeah… yeah…" Naruto's grip on Gaara slowly loosened as he steeled himself for the blow he knew was coming. He could tell, at least now, that there was a perfectly good person behind the façade of the small child listening to everything that the Ichibi said – and doing it, whether it meant that the people who could have possibly cared about were hurt or not.

"Uhm, Gaara…?" Naruto asked, after Gaara lapsed into a silence that was a tad too long.

Gaara's eyes slowly shifted upwards, a dark look growing in them. "Gaara?" Naruto asked again.

"Mother says I need to kill you."

**A/N: … I feel bad about this cliff-hanger, even if it's obvious that Gaara isn't going to kill Naruto. X_X I feel worse about it because I know that the next chapter is going to be a meanwhile chapter. xD The chapter after the meanwhile chapter will be the extraction, I swear. And that is when the Naruto x Gaara really starts. Review are welcome, thanks to everyone who does~! **


	19. Chapter 17

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Seventeen – We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming_

Tsunade stared down at her paperwork, contemplating escaping via the window and going off to get a few drinks. She could stealthily jump across to the roof across the street and rappel down the gutter, and then she's be just a half minute walk from the nearest bar…

There was a knock at the door. Curses, Shizune was probably onto her… "Come in," she said, picking up the top paper in her pile and pretending to read it.

She looked up, and there was her protégée, Sakura, standing there looking oh-so-serious.

Not that she's seen the girl laugh since Sasuke left. "Yes?" she asked, setting the paper down and leaning forward on her hands. "They did write you into the medical schedule, right? I don't think that the hospital would have any trouble accepting you as an intern, given my personal recommendation…"

'There was no problem with the hospital," Sakura corrected.

"Well, then, spit it out."

"I heard… I heard about Yggdrasil."

'_How the hell did she hear about _that?' was Tsunade's first thought, but she pressed it to the back of her mind and didn't let it show on her face. In fact, she showed only absolute confusion. "Yggdrasil?"

"Yggdrasil. The section of ANBU dedicated to killing vampires."

Sakura was laying it out on the table, point-blank, no questions or clarification needed. She was either blackmailing Tsunade, asking to join, or both.

Not that Tsunade was going to let that happen.

"There is no such section of ANBU," Tsunade said, setting down the paper. "And if I were you, I wouldn't even be asking about it – Hokage don't sign Chunin to ANBU, regardless of what section it is."

"So it's true, then? Konoha plans on killing the vampires?"

There it was. The clarification, the questions, the curiosity that reared its head every so now and then – the spark that reminded Tsunade why she took Sakura on as an apprentice in the first place.

Of course, it was for the darkest of reasons – revenge.

Sakura was angry, angry that she'd been left alone because of the vampires. Tsunade had made the mistake of sharing the intelligence about Orochimaru's search for immortality, most likely through vampiric means.

Which meant Sasuke was probably doing the same.

That, coupled with Naruto being chosen as a vampire's victim, meant that the two people Sakura was closest to had both been taken by vampires…

Tsunade could understand that. The closest people to Tsunade had all died, and Tsunade bore a grudge against all ninjas for years. Well all of them that were outside of the medical field, anyways.

"We have no such plans," Tsunade said. She paused… maybe she could throw Sakura a bone to keep her from going rogue ninja or something crazy like that. "But… if you were to become a Jonin and join ANBU… perhaps then we could really talk," she gave Sakura a pointed stare before casting her gaze back down to the mountain of papers in front of her. "Keep at your studies, don't slack off on your hospital shift, and work on that Poison Extraction I showed you. You and Kakashi have a B-rank mission tomorrow, it'll take about a week. Study while you're on it."

"Yes, ma'am!" Sakura chirped before rushing out.

Tsunade stared down at the paperwork, suddenly feeling less like drinking. She sighed as she sat it back down, finally actually reading the stupid paper. Nothing like a disheartening meeting with her protégée to make her feel like doing _work_. At least Shizune would be happy…

* * *

_Left right right left spin parry left stick it right…! _Hinata thought to herself as she sparred with Kiba. She was getting quicker, more agile than him, and her precision with her Eight Trigrams Empty Palm technique was increasing every day.

On the last 'stick it right,' she managed to hit Kiba square in the stomach. She hadn't really hit him – just tapped him to emulate what actual fighting was going to be like. But Kiba and she both knew that if it had been an actual fight, it would have been pretty much over from there. She would have closed off his main chakra center and that would have been _it_.

"Godda… I mean, jeez, I need to start protecting my stomach a bit more," Kiba said with a laugh.

"Yes, Kiba – if you don't learn to protect yourself better, you could get yourself _killed_."

"I can see my grave now – 'Killed for being stupid, stabbed in the front during an attack he saw coming.'" Akamaru let out a loud bark. "And Akamaru, sitting on my gravestone, howling at the moon, covered in the blood of the ninja who killed me. Thanks for avenging me, pal."

By the end of it, Hinata was giggling so hard that she could hardly breathe. Kiba made her laugh – it was a coarse kind of humor, but it was funny all the same.

"Don't forget – Kurenai, your mom, your sister and I would all be crying over it as well."

"Yeah, when I go, I'll leave behind a lot of pretty, crying women. And dogs."

"When I go, I'll be leaving behind a lot of stoic people who look just like me. They will just stare at my grave for an hour and leave, and never speak of me again," Hinata nodded firmly. That's how deaths went in her family – they stared in silence and then they left, and they never spoke of it again.

Unless they had to, like when her father explained to Neji what kind of a person her uncle had been.

"Ugh, that's more depressing than mine," he stuck a tongue out. "Don't worry, I'll be above everyone in the trees, looking down and trying to make crying look manly."

That set Hinata to laughing again. Kiba gave her a flash of a winning smirk.

"Oh. Uhm," Hinata opened her eyes, something suddenly occurring to her. "Uhm. Shibi Aburame…" she paused and looked at Kiba, making sure that it registered, "Wants us to attend Shino's birthday party."

"What?"

"The Aburame Clan has a tradition. When a ninja in their clan dies, they celebrate their next birthday as a sort of happy second funeral. The Aburame have decided to do the same for Shino for every birthday Shino is in Suna. Aburame birthdays are usually a family affair, and in some cases, a way to introduce arranged marriage candidates… but Shibi invited the two of us and Kurenai as well."

Kiba stuck out his tongue at the arranged marriage bit, but other than that, he didn't say anything. He and Hinata had had that discussion/argument before – apparently, if Hinata wasn't married or had someone she intended to marry by the time she was twenty, she'd have to go through an arranged marriage… and it would probably be with a second or third cousin.

"But, yeah, I'll come… do we like… bring… presents?"

"Aburame don't exchange presents."

"Phew. I wouldn't know what to _get_ him. But yeah, it sounds cool… so long as Shibi doesn't like, do that creepy stare thing I swear he's always doin'." Hinata looked at him as if accusing him of making things up – Shibi, after all, did wear dark glasses. "I can _feel_ it," he said as if trying to convince her.

"Whatever you say, Kiba. His birthday is on the 23rd – show up in decent clothes," she said playfully.

"Uhm, Akamaru…?" Kiba asked, looking down at his dog. Akamaru was just laying down at Kiba's feet, waiting for them to get finished talking, staring up at them.

Hinata put a hand on his head and smiled. "I don't think the Aburame would fault you for wanting to take him with you, considering what their clan is famous for. He _may_ have to stay in the yard, though. But I'm sure they'll find something to feed him."

"Yes! Free lunch!" Kiba did the jackpot motion and Akamaru barked in excitement.

Hinata laughed and shook her head, all the while wondering when she'd started spending nearly every waking moment with Kiba…

* * *

"Don't go so deep. You don't need to go that far in to get the job done," Kabuto hissed.

"I'll go as deep as I _want_," Sasuke growled. "You can heal it later, anyways."

"Yeah, but it still _hurts _like a _bitch_."

"Haven't you been doing the same thing for Orochimaru for like, how long? Two years?"

"Yeah, but I'm not the only one like with you. And _god _you need a lot – more than the average guy, even."

Sasuke pulled away from Kabuto's neck. He'd been intermittently drinking and talking, something he and Kabuto had gotten used to doing. During the actual feeding Kabuto had started complaining, and of course, Sasuke called him on everything… but before and after the feeding, well, the conversation was more… personal.

Sasuke, for instance, had heard the story of when and why Kabuto joined Orochimaru; knew what kind of jutsu he could use; and even knew silly stuff, like his favorite foods and blood types. Kabuto knew most of the same about him, but after hearing about Itachi for the fifth time, blatantly told him to shut up.

That's when Sasuke became really endeared to him.

Sasuke knew about Orochimaru and Kabuto's relationship, and once he knew more about it than 'oh god they were just fucking like bunnies,' it wasn't quite as… icky. Well, the thought and remembrance was still off-putting… but not as stifling awkward.

Once Sasuke pulled away, Kabuto grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the area, disinfected it (because really, who wanted Sasuke germs infecting their bloodstream), and started jotting down notes.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked, leaning over to look anyways, even though he hadn't been technically given permission.

"Your appetite is evening out. You're not desperate for food anymore, and you don't need blood at weird hours. It's pretty much been the same time every day. You could probably subsist on every-other-day feedings now, but you'll start getting crazed if you skip more than that. You're basically a real vampire now, and it's about time for Orochimaru to start teaching you blood-based jutsu."

Kabuto said the last words tautly, with a tinge of a growl to his voice.

"Why are you pissed about that? Doesn't it mean getting bit less?"

"I don't give a damn about getting bitten," Kabuto admitted. "I give a damn about Orochimaru. You weren't worth much to him, outside of the Sharingan, but now you're special, one of his few successful vampires as well as a bloodline limit. It's when you're worth a lot that he starts hitting on you."

"… _what_?"

"You haven't noticed?" Kabuto seemed genuinely confused. "Orochimaru and I only got together because I was useful to him as a right-hand man. Now, he's going to toss me aside for you, whether you want him to or not."

"… but I don't _want_ that crusty old guy hitting on me."

"I didn't either, and you saw how we ended up."

"… you're not… In love with him or anything?"

"Of course not – I've learned from Kimimaru's mistakes, after all."

"What…?" Sasuke almost asked 'what do you mean, but changed it to, "The fuck am I going to _do_?"

"Just try to avoid it, but don't really fight it. If you fight it too much, he might decide that the only thing worthwhile about you is your Sharingan and dispose of the rest of you. It _has_ happened before."

"… let's just train."

* * *

"Sakura? Are you ready for lunch?" Ino asked as she entered the small, closet-sized room that was Sakura's 'office' when she wasn't swamped with patients. During those times she retreated to the closet and read, studying about medicine and vampires and anything else that seemed relevant. She also had a punching bag in the corner, one so heavy that Ino could hardly move it herself.

"Mm," Sakura said, eyes never leaving the page. From where Ino stood, she could see that the book was old – which generally meant it was about vampirism. Old medical books were no longer relevant, so they were no longer read. But old vampire books seemed to be the _only_ vampire books…

"I brought it with me," Ino said, holding up a large lunchbox set.

Sakura glanced up, as if to make sure that she had indeed brought them, and nodded, shifting books to the side. She put the book underneath her desk so that Ino couldn't see it outright – though it was still obvious. As soon as she sat it down, she pulled another book from the side, this one obviously about medicine. She pushed everything on her desk to the side and flipped the book open, eyes never retreating from the pages, waiting for Ino to set everything out.

Ino wordlessly sat out the food, arranging it around Sakura's book so that she could reach it.

"I don't care if you read while we eat, but you should at least talk to me," Ino sighed as she started flipping lids off of bowls of rice and soup, setting out chopsticks, pouring hot tea into cups.

"Fine. How are Chouji and Asuma doing?" Sakura asked, her eyes never leaving the page, her hand reaching for the chopsticks as soon as they were placed. She grabbed the nearest bowl to her and started eating slowly, chewing over the words in her book as well as her food.

"They're fine. Chouji is gaining weight again, 'cause he really is useless without his super-size jutsu, and he's stressed out because his father keeps getting onto him for losing valuable bulk-up time. I've actually been cooking a lot for him because of it, and he's really coming along on bulking back up. Asuma is great – I think he moved in with Kurenai, but he won't say anything about that."

"That's good. Baby good?"

"Oh, yeah, he's great. Smiling and rolling, just like babies his age are supposed to be doing."

"Gonna take the Jonin exam?"

"I'm not sure… I might wait another year. I really need to work on that one thing my Dad just taught me, he said it was essential to him passing the Jonin exam. But I think he waited until now to start teaching it to me so that he could make me wait a year, and you know how I don't like doing whatever my Dad wants me to do."

"You should wait – there's no rush, and people die in the Jonin exams, sometimes."

"So I take it you're not giving it a shot this year, either?"

"No, I think I'm ready. I've really been buckling down this year, and Tsunade has pretty much outright said that I've learned most of what she can teach me, aside from the Poison Extraction, and I doubt that will be useful."

"What's the hurry for you?"

"Tsunade is starting up some kind of medical sect of the ANBU, and I'd like to be one of the first people in it. That's all."

The lie came so naturally to Sakura that it almost scared her. When had she been able to lie so smoothly, so calmly to her best friend? Especially recently, Ino was the only person really keeping her grounded. Every time Ino stopped by with lunch or flowers for the patient's rooms, she always checked up on Sakura and kept her connected with everyone outside of the hospital.

And every time she did, Sakura couldn't help but feel Ino was wasting her time and that it would be better spent training with her Dad or what was left of her team.

"Nothing to do with the book you were reading when I came in, then?"

Well. Maybe Sakura couldn't lie as well as she thought.

"Not a thing. I was just reading up on the vampires of Suna – there are charts giving the mortality rates of the victims from a hundred years ago, and I was trying to calculate… well."

"So?"

"Given that it's been some time since then and mortality rates have gone down, Shikamaru has a 98% chance of coming home alive and well, Shino has about a 93% chance, and… Naruto…" Sakura dabbed at her eyes with the back of her palm. Actually, she had calculated this ages ago, but she'd never told anyone what she found. Not Ino, not Tsunade, not even Kakashi. "Well. He's got about a 5% chance."

"He's stronger than most people," Ino offered up, her hand on Sakura wrist, blue eyes pleading to console her best friend.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's were 4.9% of the 5% comes from," Sakura said, emitting a shaky chuckle. "Only one of his victims ever survived, and he left bleeding out. Naruto's vampire said he was done with the guy, and a healer managed to patch him up and give him a blood transfusion… he died on the operating table, but they still count it because he technically left him alive."

Actually, it was those mortality rates that caused Sakura to start searching for a way to fight the vampires. She'd been checking out every single book she could find on vampires, when a mysterious guy in black finally asked her why. She didn't respond, but he seemed to read the anger emanating off of her like a book. Finally, all he said was, 'Ask Tsunade about ANBU's Yggdrasil,' before he left.

And Sakura had pieced together everything after that.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura, I—"

"Don't be," Sakura said, her voice taking on that oddly fake optimistic tone. "I've kind of known for a while now, and I've pretty much made my peace with it. I just got to study so that I'm strong enough to make Sasuke come back and to help Naruto when the three years are up. That's all."

Not that Sasuke was ever coming back… or that Naruto was ever likely to return.

* * *

Shibi hadn't been home for more than two hours after his mission when he finally collapsed in his kitchen. His wife made him some tea and he was going over the mission facts in his head, just as he did after every mission, and was considering what to eat for lunch when suddenly, he felt a very small, strangely familiar presence enter the room.

One of his son's bugs.

The bug flew up to him frantically. Shibi held out a fingertip for him to land out and started reading the bug's chakra, 'listening' to what the bug had to say.

When he deciphered the message, he nearly knocked over his tea.

"… Shino's birthday has just become his funeral. I will inform all of the guests invited," Shibi said, face betraying no emotion. His chest tightened so much it hurt, but he wasn't even positive that he was feeling 'loss,' as Aburame rarely had the emotional spectrum available to really feel emotions.

A normal father would cry or rage, but all Shibi could think to do was sit in his son's room with the one bug that survived and let the poignant feeling of loss slowly wash over him.

**A/N: Erfkh. I really have to be in the mood to write these, and I'm not so sure I was this time. xD Not to mentioned, there are a lot of characters in this one that I dislike writing (… okay, Sasuke and Sakura). Well, next chapter is the extraction and Gaara x Naruto… fluff-angst. Angst-fluff. Not sure which is predominant over the other. Ah well. Thanks for the reviews as always, I love getting them, and they fuel me like an addict and his/her drug of choice!**

**Also. Does anyone know how to get rid of that annoying share bar? 'cause it's making the title of my chapters un-centered, and that really really pisses me off. D: D:  
**


	20. Chapter 18

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Eighteen – Outing the Demon_

"You're really gonna listen to your mother, when you know she's just gonna leave you? I'm the one that's gonna be here when she's gone, but if you're cool with getting rid of your _one_ friend, go ahead and fucking kill me," Naruto had never felt so much rage built up inside him, never hated anything so much… and it wasn't Gaara that he hated, either.

It was the Ichibi.

At least the Kyuubi hadn't tried taking him over from such a young… well, the Kyuubi probably wouldn't have been able to, since his father had sealed him up extremely tightly. Naruto at least had seven… no, eight years to get his head straight before the seals on the Kyuubi were loosened to make him grow faster as a ninja.

Maybe the one he really should have hated was Gaara's father, or whoever the hell decided to put the Ichibi in him. If you're going to put a demon in your son, at least protect him – don't just throw the demon in there and then hate your son after the inevitable result.

Gaara instantly became like a little kid again, like Naruto's words were a switch between 'Gaara: the Insane and Crazy Killer' to 'Gaara: the Little Kid Stuck in a Teen's Body.'

"But… mother is screaming for me to do it so loudly… I don't know if I can…"

"… pull me in."

"What?" Gaara whimpered. He didn't know how to explain what the Ichibi was doing – but it was driving him _insane_. The Ichibi, now that it had realized it was in danger of losing his position of power to Naruto, was emitting a high-pitched wail from inside Gaara's head, making it ring and ache and all over clouding his judgment.

"Bring me in your head." Naruto had done it before. He wasn't sure how, but it was like… he grabbed someone by the harness of their very essence and pulled them inside of his head, into the dark chambers and corridors of his own mind.

"I… I don't…"

"_It's not going to come as easily to him as it did to you, Kid."_

'_Then I'll take him in my head so he can get some silence.'_

"_Don't! If you do that, the Shukaku will take over his body, and you'll be a dead hulk of pulp." _

'_Is there any way to force myself into his mind, then?'_

"_Yeah, but it's… ugh, it's like entering a backdoor, and you'll have to get through the Shukaku's cage to get to Gaara. It's not worth it to go through the backdoor."_

'_How do I do it?'_

"_Kid, don't."_

'_How?'_ Naruto wasn't letting up on this issue – he desperately needed to know, and he wasn't going to give up on the issue. _'How, before the Shukaku convinces him to eviscerate me!'_

"_Good word, kid. Been talking to Shikamaru?" _Naruto growled inwardly as a response, so Kyuubi went on. _"Okay, okay. You know the feeling you get when you pull someone in? It's like that, but in reverse. You gotta grab their essence, like usual, but you kinda thrust yourself into his essence…"_

'_Sounds like the time you gave me the sex talk.'_

"_Meh, it's more like rape than sex, 'cause you're forcing yourself in…" _the Kyuubi chuckled to himself as if he'd made a horrendously clever joke before continuing, _"But the backdoor you'll be going through is demon-container specific – something made when they put the demons into the container. Or anyways, they had been up until a hundred years ago, when someone figured out how to seal it so that it looked like it was never there…"_

'_And Gaara is older than that, so the door is still there.'_

"_Right. Should be. Just try it."_

Suddenly aware that the Kyuubi was not as all-knowing as he pretended to be, Naruto almost considered trying to talk Gaara through pulling him in. Gaara's eyes were looking somewhere strange between the crazed and the childlike, wide and almost bugging out of his head. He wrenched his eyes closed and dug his nails into Naruto, pushing pinpoints of pain deep into his chest.

And then, just like Kyuubi had instructed… he grabbed Gaara's essence, just like he usually did, but did it… backwards.

It was an abstract thing, something that Naruto wouldn't have been able to describe as well as Kyuubi in a million years. It was like pushing your finger into gel. At first there is the slightest bit of resistance, but once you're in, it's more like you're being sucked in than anything else.

Naruto hit something hard and was flung onto the floor, just a mere two feet behind a large beige _beast_. He couldn't hear the Kyuubi in here – he was all alone, for the first time since they'd loosened his seal when he was a child.

All alone, except for Gaara and what he had to do.

Emanating all around the room was a high pitched wailing, a sound so loud and piercing that he felt like someone was driving a knife through his brain.

"Oi, Shukaku!" Naruto yelled out. Suddenly, the screaming stopped, and the Shukaku turned abruptly, a crazed look in his eyes.

The kind of look Gaara got when he was about to kill.

Once the screaming stopped, Naruto was acutely aware of sobbing, but he couldn't focus on Gaara right now – just Gaara's problem.

"Wuh-at the _hell_ is thus _thing_ doin' in hyahere?" there was no discernable accent to the Shukaku's words… in fact, when he spoke them, they hardly seemed like words at all. It was like syllables that an insane person babbled just _happening_ to be words.

Shukaku didn't wait for an answer – he just raised a clawed paw at Naruto and slammed it down in an attempt to squish him. Naruto dodged to the left and then lunged forward when he saw the opposite paw swiping towards him from his right.

He couldn't use jutsu here – all he could do was whatever it took to shut the Shukaku up.

If only he had a gag of some sort… but even a regular gag wouldn't work on the Shukaku, since his head was so large. How else was he supposed to…?

Then it hit him. Naruto dodged the next two swipes as he unzipped his pants. The Shukaku gave him the most confused look before he swiped again. Naruto dodged it just barely, hopping to the left while pulling his pants down as far as he could manage. They continued like this and after about three swipes, Naruto managed to shimmy his pants off.

Shukaku let out another high-pitched scream and Gaara, somewhere Naruto couldn't quite see or get to, started screaming as well.

He had to hurry. His body was still in the physical plane, and while Naruto didn't have a connection to his body, Gaara still _did_.

Naruto waited for the Shukaku to swipe again, but instead of dodging by lunging across the cage, he stepped just out of reach and started climbing up his arm. He managed to sling his body to the side just as the other arm started trying to pry him off before pulling himself onto the shoulder blades of the Shukaku.

"Wuhat the _fawuck _ are you doin' you likkle—"

Before Naruto could even begin to decipher what the Shukaku said, he had grabbed the end of each leg of pants and had pulled it around the Shukaku's open mouth.

"Erfkh mmphm ack!" was all the Shukaku could say. He attempted to howl again, but it ended up coming out as more of a gargle than anything else. The Shukaku bucked into the air suddenly, throwing Naruto against one of the cage's bars. Naruto hit it hard, but managed to slip through one of them before the Shukaku's paw came crashing down where he had been just seconds earlier.

After he'd pushed himself closer to Gaara and out of the Shukaku's reach, Naruto rubbed at the spot where his back collided with the bars, let out a small hiss of annoyance, and turned to Gaara.

Gaara was gaping at him, tears streaming down his face.

"It's okay, Gaara. He's not gonna scream anymore – you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Gaara flung himself forward onto Naruto's lap, despite the fact that Naruto was still pants-less and in nothing but his t-shirt and boxers. Naruto tried to ignore the 'awkward' factor and just softly petted Gaara's head, muttering whatever comforting thing he could think to say.

"Naruto… you don't… you don't have to… but… would you stay with me while they…" Gaara looked over at the Kyuubi and then back to Naruto, eyes pleading for an affirmative.

"Yeah… I won't leave your side," Naruto said, giving him a thumbs-up, the closest to the 'Good Guy' pose he could get from the floor.

* * *

When Sasori came in the room, hours later once the Extraction Chamber was complete, he was surprised to see Naruto sprawled out on the floor, scratched and bruised here and there, with Gaara laying his head on his stomach, curled up to him like a small child… or a lover.

However, he made no comment.

"We're ready for you and your human," Sasori stated. "Come along, Demon of the Sand."

To Sasori's surprise, Gaara glared at him for the comment. Usually, Gaara enjoyed being called a 'demon,' because it further linked him to his mother, and made him sound all the more powerful.

Sasori decided to test the waters. "How is your mother today?"

"The Shukaku is not my mother," Gaara said, shifting so that he was sitting up, "And I'll be glad to get rid of that _thing_. Let's go." Gaara stood up and glanced down at Naruto, who was still on the floor sleeping.

Gaara moved to walk out of the door and leave him there, if only to keep himself from draining him dry later. It was strange that in just one night he could have become so fond of someone when he'd spent so long hating everyone…

But really, what else was there to feel for the person who'd saved you?

As Gaara was about to exit, Naruto's eyes blinked open and he sat up, scuffling to his feet. "Where ya goin'?" he grumbled in his groggy tone.

"… To get rid of my demon. You have not changed your mind?"

"I never go back on my word!" Naruto exclaimed, a bright flashing smile on his face.

Damn, he looked like the poster-boy for being a nice person or something.

"_Kid. Kid. He was going to let you sleep through his extraction and live… what the fuck, do you have a death wish or something? How many times in just the last month have you fucking ignored my advice and rushed off to your death?"_

'_I dunno, like six I think. Whatever. I don't mind – I know I'm not gonna die.'_

"… _kid. Kid. You think too highly of your mortality."_

And then the Kyuubi lapsed into a disgruntled silence.

Gaara wordlessly stared at him before giving a nod and walking forward.

"What, that's all I get? Not a thank you or anything?" Naruto demanded.

"Thank… you?" the tone wasn't that thanking him had slipped his mind, or even that he didn't think Naruto needed to be thanked… but that he didn't know what thanking someone meant.

"… nevermind."

The three of them walked down the hallway, Sasori in front and Naruto and Gaara just behind him. Naruto kept looking over to see what kind of expression Gaara had on his face. He was expecting nervousness, or sadness, or excitement even… but all he saw was the calm, cool look of someone who was poised for the gallows.

They went down to the first story of the building, and after taking a few out-of-the-way turns, they finally hit the back of the building. Sasori opened a door that seemed to lead into a closet – until he turned on the light, anyways. There was another flight of stairs, leading down into the damp darkness of an underground area. The stairs were shoddily made and obviously just put in, and put in rather quickly.

Sasori and Gaara both seemed able to walk down the stairs without holding the rails or even looking at their feet, but Naruto stumbled down the crooked steps clutching the sides. He tripped down at one point, catching himself on Sasori's shoulder. Sasori didn't say anything or shrug him off, but he did tense up and freeze. Gaara helped pry his hand off of Sasori's shoulder and helped him regain his balance in the pitch darkness before he threw Naruto's arm over his shoulder so that Naruto would have something to hold onto.

The bottom of the rickety stairs was just barely illuminated by far-off firelight, the orange glow dancing across the wooden steps, constantly flickering and threatening to go out entirely.

Naruto quickly let go of Gaara when he hit the dirt flooring at the bottom, not wanting to seem pathetically dependant on Gaara or anything. Just because he was the only human there didn't mean he needed to look _weak_.

There was a horrible monstrous thing in the middle of the room, two gigantic hands coming up from the ground, fingers wide and outstretched. There were figures on top of each finger, most of which Naruto couldn't see… other than Kisame, Itachi, Zetsu, and Deidara, they were all flickering black shapes, like they were projections of an actual person.

"Get in the middle," Sasori instructed to Gaara, gesturing to the area in between the two large hands and in front of the scary-looking head. When Gaara was where he needed to be, Sasori leaned down and quietly muttered, "When it begins, you may as well leave—even with your blood, he's going to die. There are people upstairs instructed to lead you back to your room when you exit."

"I'm. Not. Leaving. Him," Naruto growled out the words.

Sasori blinked slowly. "Suit yourself," he said, walking towards his the last empty finger next to Deidara, unable to give even a fraction of a care. He jumped up the hand and onto the finger in two swift jumps.

He didn't bother telling Naruto that it would probably take a full day, or that Gaara would only be able to drink blood from Naruto if he was alive when the jutsu ended… and chances of that were only slim because Gaara was a vampire.

"Zetsu, you may want to conjure two bodyguards for our resident human. He seems to be the type who'd try to interfere," one of the black figures said, his voice scratching and far-off sounding. Wordlessly, Zetsu did what the voice instructed, and two fully black Zetsus grew from the ground and each grabbed a shoulder.

"I'm not gonna do anything," Naruto growled at the two of them. And he really meant it—the rational part of him that sometimes existed knew that it was for the best that Gaara get rid of the demon. Being inside his head had proved that much.

The ten of them pulled their fingers in front of their faces, similar to the 'combat' gesture Naruto remembered doing as a child, but rarely since... except this time, instead of being fighting etiquette, it was a seal.

They started channeling chakra, eyes of the statue slowly building up to a glow. When it had seemed to finally reached the 'appropriate' color, smoke slowly emanated from its mouth and headed to Gaara with a deliberate slowness. It wrapped up his body and up towards his head, slowly crawling across his body.

In the spilt second before it hit the orifices on his head, its apparent target, Gaara's gaze went from bravely staring at the ceiling to betraying his nervousness by pleading with Naruto.

When the smoke hit him, he screamed.

Naruto instinctively lunged forward, but Zetsu held him down. Naruto bit his lip and clenched his hand, but he stopped trying. What could he do if he could be by his side, anyways? It had already started.

* * *

"You really ought to just go upstairs," the Zetsu on the right suggested. "It's fucking sadistic to stand here and watch this."

"I said I'd stay with him."

"I can hear your stomach growling."

"I said I'd stay with him."

"Look, kid, are you stupid? If he dies, you know what that means?"

"…"

"It means you'd get to go home. The other two aren't allowed to touch you, and fuck, even if they were they pro'lly _wouldn't_. You'd get to go home and do whatever the fuck it is that you'd be doin' right now."

"… I said I'd stay with him."

"Whatever, idiot."

"_Kid… he's right."_

'_Kyuu…' _While his words to Zetsu had been firm and determined, he couldn't hide from the Kyuubi how exhausted he was. It had been hours already, hadn't it? And the last time Naruto ate was… when he'd tried running away. He also really had to use the bathroom. He didn't feel good. And he was being driven insane by Gaara's screaming. Slowly the torches were going out, and Naruto wasn't allowed to _move_.

'… _I wanna go in there and help him.'_

"_That backdoor is closing, Naruto… and generally speaking, it's only people who hold a demon inside them that are able to successfully pull people into their minds. It's… possible for normal people as well, but it requires a good deal of chakra. You just never seem to notice the lack of chakra when you do it because you have so much,"_ the last part was said smugly, an indirect compliment for himself.

'_That's not a bad idea, Kyuu.'_

"_What?"_

"Oi! Left Black Body Paint Guy."

The Zetsu to his left growled out a "Yes?"

"Can I leave and come right back? I don't want to piss myself." And it was a serious concern. When he used his mental jutsu, he lost control of his body… and if he was consciously holding in something, it was going to get let out involuntarily as soon as he went to his mental place.

"Whatever. Come back or not, the guys at the front know to let you back in if you do."

Naruto nodded and stood up, walking up the stairs. He glanced back at Gaara, seriously hoping that he couldn't sense Naruto was leaving, even if it was for a second. He climbed the stairs as quickly as he could, doing a lot more tripping since he was in a hurry. The two guys blocking the door were white versions of the guys that were babysitting him, so they just let him go right away.

He rushed to the nearest bathroom (there were signs on the first floor for visiting diplomats and the like), he ran back to the stairway in under four minutes, by the Kyuubi's count. He hurried down the steps, tripping at least thrice more, before plopping himself on the floor.

He took a deep breath, and started trying to pull Gaara in.

It was so much harder this time than it had been previously. He hadn't done this as often as it felt like he had—just twice with Sasuke in emergencies. Of course he did it all the time when he was by himself and wanted to be physically 'close' to the Kyuubi, but it wasn't the same.

Not nearly the same, especially considering that trying to grab Gaara at the moment was like catching a fish with your bare hands. Gaara's essence was constantly writhing in pain, in the agony of being separated by something that was the base of his psyche.

Finally, though, Naruto did pull him in.

On the outside, he looked like he was meditating, but inside Naruto was working hard to grab Gaara and take him to the safe haven in Naruto's mind, 'saving him' from the pain that he body was going through. Probably.

Finally, as Naruto pulled Gaara into the sanctuary of his mind, Naruto slid in behind him, closing the door at the front of his mind that so few people knew how to access.

Gaara sat on the ground, panting, tears of pain rolling down his cheeks, looking extremely war-torn. Naruto put his hand on Gaara's shoulder and with a huge smile said, "Ready to meet the Nine-Tails?"

**A/N: I was so close to typing, "Look at all the fucks Sasori gives! Not a one!" multiple times. I refrained, but it would have been hilarious if I had, wouldn't it? xD Because Sasori's facial expression rarely, if ever, changes, that's all I can think of when I see his usual **** face.**

**Well. The next chapter is gonna be fluff, actually. Naruto and Gaara fluff. ALL Naruto and Gaara, just like this chapter was. Emotional backstory. Character transition. Me living up to my claims that this is a Naruto x Gaara fan fiction. Yeah, baby, I'm gonna **_**deliver**_**.**

… **believe it.**

**Anyways, enough of my ranting in the author's notes. As always, I love you reviewers because you make me smile and guilt me into writing the days I really don't feel like it, and you make my story look more prestigious (because really and honestly, that's what 99% of authors want). **


	21. Chapter 19

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Nineteen – Everything Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright_

Gaara's eyes slowly shifted from the ground to the huge beast in the cage. The Kyuubi crouched down and let out a low growl, his typical greeting. Gaara stood up, suddenly taking on an almost… _regal_ appearance. He didn't wipe at his face to cover up the fact that he'd been crying, but instead held himself as if his face wasn't completely fucked up.

Something weird Naruto noticed was that there was no 'love' mark on his head when he was in his head. He'd kind of noticed it beforehand, but… it wasn't something he'd really paid attention to.

"Kid, I did _not_ want him in here."

"Then why the hell did you tell me how to…! Oh, whatever, Kyuubi. Why the hell not?" Naruto snapped.

"'cause anyone who's been putting up with the Shukaku for the past three centuries has to be crazy as _fuck_, and crazy is entertaining, but I'm enjoying being _retired_."

"You knew my… the Shukaku?" Gaara asked, stepping forward politely, but by no means timidly. The Kyuubi gave him a surprised look, staring at him, appraising him.

"Yes… I knew that crazy bastard. He was more of an acquaintance than anything else… are you really that Gaara kid?"

"I'm _not_ a kid," Gaara growled out. "By demon standards, I might even be considered an adult."

"Ch. A demon isn't an 'adult' until they kill their father. Or their mother, if their father is already dead."

"What?" Naruto interjected.

"Yeah, dumbass, why else are there so few demons, and only one of each type?"

"Well, I didn't _know…_"

"Then I've been an adult for three hundred years."

Naruto's gaze slowly shifted to Gaara in horror.

"The Shukaku killin' him don't count."

"He didn't. _I_ killed him. I didn't let the Shukaku take control for that… I wanted him dead too badly."

"Why would you kill your own _father_?" Naruto asked in horror. "I mean… my dad put Kyuubi in me, and I'm not exactly… happy with that or anything, but I couldn't ever kill the guy."

"By the time I'd killed him, he had already made attempts on my life ten times, six of which before I was even eight. The other eight were very… elaborate. And I wasn't… I'm not… exactly sane."

"You seem pretty damn sane to me," the Kyuubi growled out.

"… I suppose I am…." Gaara seemed stuck on that idea as soon as the Kyuubi mentioned it, thinking back on it introspectively. After a moment of thinking, during which Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, Gaara started looking down a corridor. "Can you… leave the immediate area?"

"Yeah…" Naruto said, trailing off.

"Huh. Must be nice. In my head, I'm tethered right here, near the Shukaku's cage."

"Seals were much more primitive in your day," Kyuubi growled. "That was common. You should have seen the crap I convinced this one kid to do, back when the seals were so weak that I could pull him in whenever I wanted to… that was also when someone was messing with the temporal issues, and I could keep him here for however long I wanted without any time elapsing outside of his head. I actually made him—"

"Kyuu! I heard this story twice already, I don't want to hear it again!" Naruto interjected, pulling his hands over his ears.

"Oh, please, I was just testing his will. I wasn't going to pull him back in if he didn't do it."

"… what did he do?"

"See, he wants to know! The long and short of it was he tortured and killed his pregnant older sister and then I got him to try killing the Hokage. Their special forces took a few hits, but they eventually captured him and sealed him away for like, five years before they came up with a new set of seals and put me in a new body. For the five years that he was locked up I had him relive the experience of killing his sister over and over and over again…"

"Kyuu, stop it," Naruto growled.

"That reminds me of this _other _time, before even that, when I got this girl to kill her twin brother…"

"Gaara, let's go," Naruto finally said, catching him by the wrist and pulling him towards another corridor. He couldn't leave his mind, and the Kyuubi knew that – but he like Gaara pointed out, he could leave at any moment and hike down a corridor whenever he liked.

"Oi, kid, that ain't a good idea."

"Well, we're not listening to you talk about the good ol' days for hours and hours, so we're leaving." Naruto stormed ahead, assuming that Gaara would follow.

Gaara glanced one more time at the Kyuubi before slowly following him down the dark corridors.

"Kid! Seriously! Don't go opening anything!" the Kyuubi's voice reverberated down the hallways as if chasing them into the depths of Naruto's mind.

* * *

"We're going to Konoha."

"… pardon?"

Shino pulled away from the desk where he'd been pouring over the body of one of his bugs. It was one of the bugs that had died of chakra depletion, and no matter how many times Shino tried to get close to them to 'feed' them, they just… scurried for a different corner, high above and away from him.

His best friends and closest comrades were dying all around him, and he couldn't figure out what to do.

"If there's anything to do for your bugs, only someone from your clan would know. And besides. It's not like I can teach you anything, 'cause Sasori is an asshole, so we might as well let you go home and y'know, tell people what happened. Family and friends and all."

"… does this mean we can visit often, or…?"

"We'll see how it goes," Kankuro huffed. "We're staying for two nights, leaving on the third. If there's anything other than clothes y'need, get it together now. I got your clothes," Kankuro flashed him a devlish grin, but Shino didn't take the bait. He knew Kankarou wouldn't dress him embarrassingly…

"Very well…. But keep in mind the audience. I wouldn't want my father to think I'd decided to become a girl, like you had once tried to convince Deidara."

* * *

"Well, we certainly can't hear him any longer," Gaara said after what felt like ten minutes of running through corridor after corridor.

"Yeah, guess you're right…" Naruto looked up and down the halls before staring hard at a door, considering it. It was his head, wasn't it? Shouldn't he be able to go wherever he damn well pleased?

He pushed it open cautiously and stepped inside. Before he could motion for Gaara to follow him, however, he fell to his knees and started bawling. Memories swirled around him, emotions that he hadn't felt in ten years surged through him. Suddenly, he was a five-year-old outcast all over again, forced to relive the moment when a kid threw a rock at his head and the whole area laughed at him.

It only lasted for a second, but as soon as it was over, he scurried out of the room, eyes brimming over with tears.

Gaara, however, had seen nothing – he hadn't been the one to experience the room, Naruto had.

"…?" Gaara didn't know how to ask what happened in the room for the extremely short duration that Naruto had been in there, but the look Gaara was giving him was enough of a question.

"I uh… when I was five, before they loosened the seal on the Kyuubi a bit… I was kind of the town, uhm, disgrace or something," Naruto let out a small laugh. "I'd kinda forgotten about the time that the kid threw a rock at me… they stopped that after the seal loosened 'cause they were afraid that, y'know, I'd demon-out and kill everyone."

"But… when you came here… you already had friends…"

"Yeah, well, that was after years of getting strong from the Kyuubi tutoring me and doing missions and stuff. It's just the kids in my grade and a couple of others here and there that respect me, everyone else still hates me about the same. Aside from my teachers."

"… do you think… things might have been different for me if… if the Shukaku hadn't…?"

"Made you fucking crazy? Yeah, I know for sure that it would have been different. Hell, I was always bordering on insane… sometimes the Kyuubi pushed me one way or the other, but the person who kept me from going apeshit on everyone was probably my teacher, Iruka."

"… Do you mind if I… go in a door?"

"Well… it's kinda… personal… but fuck, we're gonna be here for a long ass time, and it's not like we got anything else to do. Whatever." Naruto didn't have much to hide, really.

Probably not.

* * *

Temari knocked on their door, carefully waiting for the all-clear before she opened it. She didn't know whether or not Shino and her brother were having sex at all, but she didn't want to accidentally barge in on it if they were. It had happened three times already, and even more of him barging in on her, and every time was just as disgusting as the last.

"Shino, let me have a word with my brother. I can see you from here, just go to Shikamaru's door," Temari instructed pointing down the hallway. Shino silently nodded before following her instructions, ambling down the hallway.

"You're taking him to Konoha?" Temari asked, watching her brother repack all of Shino's clothes from the doorway.

"Yeah, what of it?" Kankarou growled out. He pulled out a red shirt and looked at it, tilted his head, and held it up in Temari's direction. "Is this too girly for Shino?"

"How many buttons is it missing?"

"… two."

"Would you wear it?"

"No."

"Then it's too fucking girly. Shino likes jackets, pack him what he wants to wear. He's visiting his family, not someone you need to parade him around in front of. Just let him be comfortable for once. But anyways, what's the big deal, letting him go back home?"

"His bugs are dying, and how to fix it isn't the kind of information a ninja would send in a letter, so we're going to see his father."

"Uh-huh," Temari said sarcastically. "And… why aren't we letting the bugs die? You know he's not gonna be able to keep them or anything. They'll all die, no matter what he does. Shino is gonna become a real boy soon, and you're letting him cling to the puppet strings."

Kankarou held up the nearest puppet, a small prototype model that happened to be on the nightstand.

"You know what I mean. Put that creepy doll away," Temari huffed. The doll just _happened_ to have four knobs on its head, each oddly spiky. It was obviously modeled after her, and she didn't like it.

"Well, I'd rather he hear it from his dad than from me, so he knows I did everything I could. And fuck, none of us have turned someone before, what's wrong with letting them see their family?"

"You know what's wrong with it," Temari sighed out, leaning against the doorway. "No matter how you present it, they're all going to think he's a monster… or a god, depending on how his village views vampires. Either way, Shino isn't going to be happy. A clean break is healthier."

"Duly noted. How about this one?"

"If it's silk, do _not_ pack… Okay. Here are the rules. It can't be cut or unbuttoned lower than the neck, it has to cover his stomach, it has to fit – and by fit, I mean be baggy – and it can't be see-through or made of _leather_."

"What kind of freak do you take me for?" Kankarou scoffed before throwing out a fishnet shirt.

"Uh-huh."

"That was uhm. For me. I decided it wouldn't have been flattering."

"Ugh, why are my brothers such freaks…"

* * *

Gaara pushed open a different door, one adjacent to the door that Naruto had walked into. He slowly walked into it, suddenly realizing how intrusive this was. He was experiencing something Naruto had experienced _from_ Naruto's point of view. He wasn't just hearing about it, he was… feeling it.

Warm arms wrapped around him, and all he could see was the close-up view of a green vest. He could smell the salt of tears, could feel an acute pain in his head. His chest was heaving from sobbing and he was choking out coughing cries… and then someone's warm hands stroked the back of his head and murmured, "It's okay, Naruto, they'll know that they were wrong someday…"

And then, just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

Gaara walked numbly out of the room, the paint around his eyes smeared down to his cheeks from crying. His whole body was shaking, trembling.

"Gaara, what did you see…?"

"It was a… a… hug…" Gaara mumbled, wiping at his face.

All he could think about was Yashamaru. His uncle. His uncle hugged him like that, once. And then…

Gaara's body shook with a completely different force. Rage bubbled up to the surface, and he couldn't help himself. He punched the wall right next to the door as hard as he could, and started screaming. "Why was _I_ all alone? Why couldn't anyone love _me_? Everyone always hated me, or hated me behind my back! What the _fuck_ was so wrong with me...!" Gaara was punching the wall in a frenzy.

He could feel pressure from the punches but not pain, and no matter how hard he punched, he left no marks, scuffs, or indents.

Naruto grabbed his hand around the wrist and yelled, "Stop it!" as loudly as he could. "I know your life was shit," Naruto bit out. "And there was nothing wrong with you until the Shukaku fucked you up. But since then you've done a lot of bad stuff, and you need to stop focusing on the past or you're going to go fucking insane one way or another, either out of guilt or self-pity."

"Easy for you to say," Gaara grumbled and pushed him away. "You had someone telling you everything was going to be alright – the guy who did that for me tried to kill me."

"Hey," Naruto bit out. Gaara moved to storm away, but Naruto lunged forward. Naruto awkwardly had his arms wrapped around Gaara, halfway between an actual hug and pinning him there. "Everything is going to be all right, okay? And I'm not gonna kill you," Naruto loosened his death-grip a little and murmured again, "Everything's gonna be all right. Now we can keep going through the doors or we can just drop it. What do you wanna do?"

Gaara shuffled slightly, before turning into the hug, pressing his head against Naruto's chest. Naruto took the hint and stroked the back of his head, trying to let the awkwardness ebb out of the moment.

It wasn't, but Gaara seemed complacent, so Naruto did his best to shove the awkward feeling aside. "So?"

"… I'd like to see more, if you wouldn't mind," Gaara mumbled.

* * *

Shikamaru stared at the ceiling, pondering. Temari wasn't in at the moment, she was doing 'important things.' Shikamaru was fucking bored, and he was extremely envious of the other two. Shino had started being allowed to walk up and down the hallways and even go to the Library unattended, since leaving pretty much insured that he'd starve to death. Naruto was doing… _something_. There had been a lot of commotion earlier, but no one was telling him anything.

And for once, Shikamaru couldn't piece together what was going on. It was driving him slowly insane.

So he stared at the ceiling, trying to imagine that it was gone and instead of a beige, flat surface it was a bright blue plane of rolling white clouds.

He could barely remember clouds.

There was a knock on the door, and Shikamaru answered it with a grunt. He didn't bother looking up – it could only be one of two people. Temari didn't knock anymore, so it was either Kankarou or Shino.

"Kankarou has determined the best course of action for us is to bring me to Konoha and present me to my family in my current form," Shino said from the doorway. In his limited range of emotion, he was feeling as close to pitying as he could. Shikamaru was more emotionally invested in his friends and family (because he had the capacity to feel more than Shino did), and yet Shino was the one who got to go back 'home' first.

Shikamaru shot up into an upright into an upright position as soon as Shino had uttered the word 'Konoha.'

"Really? You get to…"

"Yes… I was stopping by to see if, well, if there was anything you wanted me to… deliver or say to anyone. I… I am fairly certain I could manage it."

"Did Kankarou say that you could deliver messages? It doesn't seem likely, since… well. We don't exactly get letters from home or stationary to write."

"… he did not disagree… nor did he agree…"

Ah. Ninja double-talk for 'I didn't ask because he would say no, and it's not even an issue if I don't get caught anyways.'

"I see. Well. I don't have much to say to them… just tell everyone that it's troublesome, but I'm doing alright. More importantly, check on Asuma, Chouji, Ino, and the Nara clan. Just… bring me news and I'll feel better."

"I will gather as much intelligence as I can about everyone. Are you sure there is nothing I can tell Asuma or perhaps your father?"

Shikamaru sank back into his reclined position and scoffed out a smile. "Yeah. Tell him I knew girls would be troublesome. He'll get a laugh out of it."

* * *

Gaara felt himself roll around, someone pushing him into the dirt. The other person was just as small and obviously a much better fighter. As the other kid moved to jump back, he pushed off by punching him in the stomach. He could feel the air leave his chest and he doubled over, unable to parry or block right. Laughter erupted around him, and Gaara could feel red rush to his cheeks. Suddenly, without being able to help it, he screamed out, "I'll be Hokage, you just watch! I'll own _all_ your asses and be the greatest ninja ever!"

Gaara walked out of the room, a small smile on his face despite the fact that his stomach still hurt. Had Naruto actually made strange proclamations like that? Well, of course he had, if it was in his memory, but…

Naruto walked out of a door at the same time. The moments that were 'recorded' lasted the same amount of time, so they had it timed so they would go into a room and out at the same time.

"What was yours?" Naruto asked.

"Uhm… you were about six, and you were fighting a dark haired boy who wore navy…"

"Oh! Oh yeah, Sasuke! He's kinda like my best friend from back home, but he's also a bastard… I always wanted to kick his ass, just once, you know?"

"… That wouldn't be… Sasuke Uchiha, would it…?" Gaara asked slowly, carefully.

"Yeah. How'd you…? Oh, fucking great, even people in Suna have heard of the 'great Uchiha clan,' ugh I'm sick of hearing about them…"

"No… that's… not where I've heard of him before…"

Gaara didn't know how to explain it to Naruto. While under the influence of the Shukaku, he had been extremely interested in Bingo Books from around the world, from each village, everyone from people who'd stolen and ran to people who had assassinated clan leaders and gotten away.

And one of the highest bounties, due to his Sharingan, had been Sasuke Uchiha.

"Naruto… Sasuke Uchiha left Konoha… he's a fugitive."

* * *

Shino laid the cage in the middle of the room and placed a plate of some mulched up… food? in the center of it, hoping to entice them to eat it and come into the box.

"I thought they ate chakra," Kankarou huffed as he watched Shino's attempts from the doorway. All the bugs were still swarming the ceiling and windows, attempting to push themselves out in some imaginary crevice.

"Yes, but when they are extremely starved, food also smells like chakra to them. But I don't think it's working…"

"Well, I'mma try something less… desperate," Kankarou said, moving to the box. He bit his right index finger and held the blood in by pressing it in between his left index finger and thumb. He channeled a minute amount of chakra through his finger before pressing the droplet of chakra-induced blood above the plate of mulch.

He backed away when the bugs started scurrying towards it. Most of them crammed inside, and the ones that didn't Shino quickly flung inside.

"If you could have been feeding them your chakra, why haven't you been?" Shino asked, obviously slightly miffed.

"'cause the five or ten bugs that _get_ to my chakra are gonna die. Remember the blood bug spray? Yeah, blood jutsu doesn't really affect living things so well… especially if it's something small like a bug. But fuck, it's killing five or ten to save the rest, right?"

"… I suppose." Shino paused, considering. "Thank you," he finally said.

Kankarou was honestly confused for a few seconds. "Ha, I knew there was a reason that I turned you! It's bad when you're totally no used to fucking _manners _ and _gratitude_…"

Shino gave him a pointed look.

"I mean. It's not a problem. Uh. Anytime."

* * *

"What… when… when did he become a fugitive?" Naruto demanded.

"I… can't recall. It was after you'd come… I don't have a good sense of time…"

"Did… did it say why… or what he did…?"

"He was uninteresting. He didn't kill anyone before he left, he just left. He's in the Bingo Book solely because of his Sharingan, since that's a uniquely Konoha bloodline trait. I don't know what else to… say, really…"

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled.

"There… isn't really anything you can do, you know."

"Yeah, but if I'd been there, I—"

"I'm sorry for sounding selfish," Gaara interjected, "But… if you had been there, I'd be a lot worse off. Whoever would have been in your place would have been dead by now, I'd be a lot less stable, and I probably would have killed a couple of other random citizens. Also… you probably wouldn't have been able to do much for him."

"Yeah, but… I could have fucking _tried_…"

"… I'd say for you to give up on him, except that you haven't given up on me. He's about as hopeless as I am, so… when I'm 'right,' when I'm totally sane and in my own body, I vow to help you get your friend back in Konoha."

**A/N: Couldn't leave Nar-Nar in the dark forever about Sasuke's leaving, now could we? XD Ugh, this chapter took forever. I had to change the story format of it a couple of times because I couldn't write **_**just**_** Gaara and Naruto for another chapter, and then it occurred to me how long it had been since I'd written any of Kankarou and Shino. All of their packing and talking to Shikamaru was actually gonna be next chapter or after that, but I got impatient.**

**And I was going to leave it at 'he's a fugitive,' but well, I decided to make it a tad longer. Next chapter will be more of the same. xD Thanks for the reviews, as always! ^_^**


	22. Chapter 20

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Twenty — The Extraction  
_

They shifted through random memories for the remainder of the time. Gaara tried getting Naruto's mind off of Sasuke, but as they went through more and more memories along Naruto's timeline, it was painfully obvious how much of Naruto's preteen life had to do with Sasuke.

Fighting with Sasuke, becoming Sasuke's official 'rival,' even more fighting and arguing with Sasuke, but amidst all of those moments, every once in a while, there would be _one_ memory where the two of them shared a 'moment,' a moment of deep conversation or a meaningful phrase that felt poignant, even among all of the random violence and debasement.

And Gaara saw Sakura, Naruto's first crush, too.

"I feel what you feel in the memories, but I don't see what is so… magnificent about her," Gaara stated simply after a few too many 'Sakura-centric' memories.

"What do you mean? She's really really smart and like, _super_ strong and—"

"Well, I see her potential as a ninja, of course, but I don't…"

"And she's _pretty_."

"… that Hyuuga girl who had a crush on you in the Elementary school memories was just as pretty. If not more so.'

"Who, Hinata? What are you _on,_ we didn't even _talk_."

"You and Sakura barely talked, and even when you did, she was kind of… _mean_. At least the few words you shared with Hinata were kind."

"Well, yeah, but…"

"I'll never understand humans."

"What do you—wait." Naruto paused, throwing his hand to the side. "I think… I think it's time to go," Naruto finally realized. He could feel his body moving, like some far off part of himself. Well… it was more like it was _being_ moved.

"… Naruto, if I die, tell Temari and Kankarou that I'm sorry for everything I've done. And don't bother hanging around – just go back home and start looking for the Uchiha."

"Gaara, you're gonna be fine, I swear," Naruto said hurriedly. He quickly amended it when he heard how unsure he sounded, adding a, "Really," as he grabbed Gaara's shoulders and stared down at him with conviction.

"I don't know… how to leave…"

"You'll leave when I do. Just… hold on…"

Naruto opened his eyes in the physical world, which always felt so far away when he was in his mind. Opening his eyes and coming back to his body felt like a combination of blinking and opening gigantic blinds, combined with a weird teleporting motion.

He looked up, across the dirt ground, and saw Gaara stretched out on the ground, pale and a horrendous color of light blue. His chest wasn't moving with the flow of breath, and the Akatsuki were stepping down from their elevated positions, walking right by him without as much as a glance.

* * *

"We are not saying goodbye to the others?" Shino asked as he picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Nah, I'd really rather get going before the Akatsuki members start leaving, and 'sides, Temari knows we're leaving. So long as she knows we're goin' she'll be fine."

"But it still seems… rather hasty…" Shino said.

"It is fuckin' hasty. They finished earlier than they were supposed to, I heard a bunch of Zetsus leavin'. If we don't leave before they do, then… Well, they'll probably piss me off."

Kankarou glanced down each hallway before sneaking down the side set of stairs, the set that mostly cleanup crews used. It was small and out of the way, but it was also extremely cramped, and kind of shoddy. In other words, it was the 'servant's entrance.'

"_Fuck_ I wish you had useful powers. We could be invisible or impossible to catch right about now," Kankarou groaned as he moved down the stairs, two at a time. They just needed to get to the tunnels before the Akatsuki did. The fork between the tunnels that led to… wherever their base was… and the fork that would eventually lead to Konoha were pretty close to the entrance, and no one would bother once they were already headed towards home.

And Kankarou was worried about it for two reasons. One was that, well, of course he didn't want to put up with Deidara's shit… but the second reason was because Kankarou heavily believed in the philosophy, 'You can't say no if I don't ask.'

Sasori told him to stay with Shino at all times and not teach him any blood jutsu.

He didn't say that Kankarou and Shino had to stay in _Suna_ for the two of them to be together at all times and for Kankarou not to teach him blood jutsu.

Just like how Shino was going to dig around for Shikamaru whenever he could, even if Kankarou hadn't explicitly said that that was fine yet.

* * *

The next minutes felt like an eternity. Naruto gnawed open his wrists, since there was nothing else handy. The Akatsuki's retreating footsteps echoed in the voluminous cavern, leaving Naruto feeling alone and desperate as they faded into nothing.

"Gaara… Gaara…" he found himself saying over and over again, the words needy and soft at first before escalating into hysterics.

Spending a whole day with a person alone while going through every single one of your memories did strange things to people. There was no comparison for the amount of closeness that a situation like that could bring, especially considering how much between the two of them had been unsaid. Naruto had consoled Gaara about the dark areas of his childhood that burnt the worst, and Gaara did the same on the areas that Iruka couldn't possibly have begun to patch up.

They were so similar, and yet different enough that Naruto felt he could save him. Redeem him. Or at the very least, truly befriend him and make him _human_ again.

Naruto's wrist was shaking above Gaara's mouth and Naruto was shaking Gaara's shoulder with his non-bleeding hand. Naruto started screaming again, the words now vibrating back and exploding in his eardrums the instance he bellowed them.

"_Kid… kid… it's not… he's gone."_

"He is _not_ gone!" Naruto screamed to the ceiling of the cavern as tears started streaming down his face. "Please, Gaara, don't be… be okay, please…" Naruto fell against Gaara's body, bleeding wrist smashed against Gaara's lips, his other arm strewn across his body.

He was weeping, feeling alone and..._vulnerable_. He never felt vulnerable. He always felt strong, and brave, and that he could handle anything.

But he couldn't handle Gaara's dying on the same day he found out about Sasuke's betrayal to the Leaf.

After what felt like an eternity of weeping, which every amount of weeping always feels like, Naruto felt something tickle his bleeding wrist. For a second, he thought that he was hallucinating from blood loss… but slowly and surely, he felt Gaara sucking against the severed flesh.

"Gaara!" Naruto whispered in awe.

Gaara pulled away for just a second before mumbling, "… you weren't… holding it close enough…"

"_Dumbass. Like he could sit up in his condition."_

"Shut up, Kyuubi," Naruto mumbled under his breath before giving Gaara a grin. He wiped at his eyes, trying to cover up the fact that he'd been crying, even if Gaara had been apparently conscious the whole time and _knew_.

Naruto leaned against Gaara again, staring at him up close with wide eyes as Gaara drank from his wrist. Gaara didn't scorn or even acknowledge the contact, so Naruto shifted so that he was laying on top of him, relaxing until he was done drinking.

"_Kid. He's taking a lot. You're gonna—"_

Naruto's vision got blurry, fuzzing around the edges until he could just barely see his arm in front of his face.

"_Kid, you're gonna pass out from blood loss, and if he takes more than that, you'll probably _die_. Say something!"_

'… _no…'_

Gaara needed the blood to survive. Naruto did, too, but he didn't need a whole lot of blood to live, since the Kyuubi could use chakra to regenerate blood cells or whatever it was that he did.

When Naruto fell unconscious, Gaara knew that instant. Naruto's arm had been somewhat supported by him holding it up, but when he passed out, the arm slumped and became limp. Gaara pulled away, a look of horror on his face.

Despite all of his up-close knowledge of death, he'd never seen someone slowly die, or die as peacefully as Naruto seemed.

For a moment, he was positive that he'd just killed the one person that was on his side. He sat up, shifting Naruto's head from his chest to his lap… and then felt warm breath on his leg.

Gaara let out a small sigh of relief. He hadn't killed Naruto through zealous drinking, and he'd survived the demon extraction, which he'd considered nearly impossible just hours ago.

He wasn't strong by vampire standards, but now that he could _move_, he was at least as strong as a human. He gently wrapped Naruto's arm around the back of his neck and hoisted him up to the best of his ability, and stared up at the stairs. He'd need help tending to Naruto, or else he _would_ kill the one person who wanted to help him.

* * *

Temari kept careful watch over the Suna headquarters. She was constantly watching and listening out for anything that could be considered vaguely dangerous, and knew what everyone was doing at all times. She was like the head of security and the administrative manager all at once… and if _one_person of her and her siblings led Suna, it would have been her.

Though the reality was that the vampires had given them equal triumvirate power over Suna, though what that really amounted to was more of a figurehead position than anything. If there was a really big decision, Sasori made it, end of discussion.

What they got to decide were the really fun stuff, like zoning and taxes.

But when something was going on, she was always alert and ready for it. Sasori taking Gaara aside the previous… had it been two days already? Well, whatever the span of time, she'd been ready for something to happen. She could sense the entire Akatsuki waiting in the catacombs of the building. She sensed an immense buildup of chakra. But most of all, she got the feeling that something was _dying_ down there, slowly and painfully.

As soon as she felt the Akatsuki filter out of the underground she headed towards the basement, worried… kind of. She probably wouldn't care… too much… if Gaara was dead. But she'd have cared if it was Naruto who'd died.

And of course, during all of the turmoil, Kankarou decided to go on a freaking _honeymoon_ with his new victim.

Figured. Boys had such one-track minds…

Also on that subject, Shikamaru had been tormenting her over and over and over again, asking her why no guy had ever been good enough to turn. Finally she snapped and said that it was because she had more important things to worry about, like _work_…

And she'd been sitting in the office doing nothing ever since. Well, nothing but waiting for the shit to hit the fan, and for the Akatsuki to let her clean up the mess.

She was on her way when she ran into an extremely dilapidated Gaara carrying an almost dead Naruto.

"Fix. Him," he pleaded, eyes wide. Temari felt tears come to her eyes…

He had the same look on his face as the time his father first told him that he was the one who'd killed their mom. The same, 'please, say it isn't so' kind of look. Except this time, the death was happening right in front of him.

"Get him on Shikamaru's bed. He's lost so much blood, there's only one thing we can do."

* * *

"_Kid. It's time to wake up…"_

'_But… I feel warm… and safe….'_

"_It's not time yet, kid. It won't be time for a very, very long time."_

'_But… I want to stay here…'_

_A blond man came into his view, and Naruto instinctively knew it was his Dad. "No, Naruto, you have stuff to do… go make the best of it."_

* * *

Naruto blinked away, confused. He felt sore and aching, like every cell of his entire body got jumped and beat down by around twenty huge guys with wooden clubs.

He shifted. Make that iron clubs.

Above him was Temari, breathing a sigh of relief. He turned his head, vision swimming, trying to asses the situation. Standing to his right was Shikamaru, looking somewhat displeased and tired.

"Good thing we're apparently compatible blood types, Naruto, or you'd be a dead guy," Shikamaru mumbled. "But then again, maybe you'd be less troublesome dead…"

Naruto looked down. A red tube. No, wait, a tube full of blood, connecting his arm to Shikamaru's. Temari gently grabbed Shikamaru's arm, pulling the tube from the arm as carefully as she could. She rubbed the area for what felt like way too long, and when she pulled away, there was no discerning mark.

Shikamaru slumped to the floor as soon as she took it out, dizzy from his own anemia.

"Gaa…ra," Naruto choked out, eyes glancing around the room.

"I am here," Gaara said, turning into the doorway. He had been hiding in the hallway, waiting to hear his status. He hadn't wanted to stay in the room unless Naruto wanted him there, and well, after Gaara had almost killed him… Gaara wasn't so sure that Naruto would want him around.

"Gaara," Naruto said, grinning. "We're alive," he said, before coughing. "I'm sleepy," he said, glancing up at Temari, like she was supposed to magically make it better.

"Yeah, and you're _gonna_ be sleepy for a long time. But you'll live. And that's the important thing. You had us really freaked out, Naruto," Temari sighed.

"… wait… where's… Shino…? And… the other... guy?"

"Shino and Kankarou are currently visiting the Leaf," Gaara stated, carefully. He didn't want to upset Naruto, and that… seemed like the kind of news that might upset him. After all, Shikamaru had been a little upset when he'd heard.

"Ah. Good for Shino… I just wish he would… check on Iruka…"

"… Naruto? If… if I… um."

"What…?"

"If, in a few months, if you want to… would you like to… go to the Leaf?"

Naruto's eyes widened as far as he could manage, "Yeah…!"

"Ugh, now everyone is going but me. Unless?" Shikamaru shot Temari a look.

"No," she said firmly. "But Gaara, are you sure you want to take him there? It's a lot of social interaction, and you'd have to watch him the whole time. Plus, you'd need to get Sasori to approve the trip, and that's not likely to happen with their busy schedule."

"Oh… yeah… that's…"

"S'okay, dun worry 'bout me… just glad you're 'kay…" Naruto slurred the words before he passed out, unconscious.

"You can leave now. I'll stay with him," Gaara said. "And… thank you… for helping me."

Temari opened her mouth to say 'you're welcome' just as awkwardly as Gaara had thanked her when Shikamaru stood up, stepping in between the two of them.

"Wait. This is my room. You can't just kick us out — you two are going to have to leave," Shikamaru bit out. He crossed his arms, glaring Gaara down. And it literally was down — in the past months, Shikamaru had hit a growth spurt.

Gaara sighed. "I… apologize for… inconveniencing you, but I _believe_…. that you will agree, Naruto needs the bed more at the moment. Shino's old room should be uninhabited," he glanced back at Temari, like he wanted to say something to her, but instead said, "… right…" He ducked out quickly, leaving before Shikamaru could say anything else.

Temari shoved him. "What is _wrong_ with you?" she demanded, her voice in a hushed growl.

"Just… testing him. He didn't try killing me, so maybe… he's actually… changed…" Shikamaru yawned and stumbled towards her, vision blurring.

"All right, all right, I'll chalk it up to the anemia. I won't have dinner tomorrow," she promised, wrapping his arm behind her neck. She looked down at Naruto and sighed. "Hopefully Gaara doesn't, either," she mumbled, half-carrying Shikamaru to Shino's old room.

* * *

"How much farther?" Shino asked. He could feel that they were getting close — they'd run at his usual, human dashing speed for a good deal of the way, and going by the passage of time… if that was even accurate, down in the underground cavern… they were nearly there.

"We just got a half-mile and we'll be there. Of course, we still have to wait for the sun to set, but we're be there as soon as it gets dark."

"How much longer until the sun sets?"

"Three hours."

"How far from Konoha is the exit?"

"It comes out a quarter-mile from Ko… why are you asking so many questions?"

"I am deeply apologetic, I… I feel anxiety to a small extent."

"And now you're talking funny, like someone hit a reset button."

"Well. I cannot help the manner in which I speak. I am almost certain it is the result of… being such close proximity to my home. This is the manner of which all Aburame speak."

"I… see… you guys are kinda… weird, huh?"

"Exceedingly so. If it were not for arranged marriages, we probably would not reproduce."

* * *

When Temari had left the room, Gaara slid back in, closing and locking the door behind him. He stared down at Naruto, a small, estranged part of him imagining strangling and beating him. He shook that part away — from this point on, he would only be violent if necessary. And besides, no part of him, not even the small part that was still his 'mother,' wanted him dead.

He climbed into bed next to Naruto, staring at him with wide, green eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, leaning his head against Naruto's shoulder.

And for the first time in three centuries… he took a nap.

**A/N: NEXT CHAPTER IS ALLLLLL SHINO AND KANKY. XD Sorry about the long wait. =| Seriously. And you guys are welcome. There was no cliffhanger this time, even if the chapter was short. *laughs* **


	23. Chapter 21

**And Darkness Prevails  
**_Chapter Twenty-One — Back To Konoha_

It was early evening, and people were starting to filter away from the Aburame house. The house wasn't large, with a huge open space for a living room and dining area, connected to bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The main room was large and circular, and the rooms connected small and similarly shaped.

It was shaped like a hive. The family was big on the bug theme.

The shrine to Shino was set up in the living room. Everyone wore black, and everyone set small flowers next to his picture. In fact, it was the only two pictures that they had of him. One was of him in Elementary school, during the class picture. He seemed small and shrunken into the group, especially because Naruto was grinning in the row ahead of him. The other photo was of a very straight-faced Shino next to a grinning Kiba, with a shyly smiling Hinata off to the side and Kurenai standing behind them, smiling happily.

"It is strange… to miss someone you're not even sure you knew so well…" Hinata mumbled to Kiba as she sat her flower down and carefully stroked the image of the four of them.

"Yeah, I know… it's like… he was there all the time, and we like… miss him _being_ there… but if people asked us shit about him, we prolly couldn't answer. Like, no one would know the answers, really."

"I… don't want him to fade away. It doesn't even feel like he died, it just feels like he…"

"Blended in and then left?"

"Yeah…"

Kiba wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulders, rubbing the opposite arm. "I know."

Usually Hinata was completely shy about physical affection. She usually pulled away and blushed, or said that this wasn't the place, or brought up the other things that they had to do. But this time, she ever-so-slightly shifted towards Kiba.

* * *

"Kankarou from Suna. Here to uh. Visit," Kankarou said to the guards. The guard that seemed to be paying the most attention flipped open a book, held it up to Kankarou's face, squinted to see past the face paint, squinted again to imagine a new set of face paint, and checked his eye color before Kankarou finally said, "Does this help?" and showed off his fangs.

"Okay, Kankarou from Suna… wait." He leaned around the guard rail and stared hard at Shino. "Are you tryin'a be _funny_? The Aburame family is in _mourning_, didn't you do enough?" the guy spat in Kankarou's general direction.

"Well, you have balls, and I'm not going to cut them off and shove them down your throat like I _should_, but he was never _dead_, so back the fuck up and let us through."

The guy grumbled as he motioned to let them pass through, though they seemed unhappy about it.

As soon as they hit the inside of Konoha, Shino broke into a sprint, pushing his legs as fast as they would carry him. There was no attempt to lose Kankarou, there was no shaking or quick turns or splitting up into clones.

And the reason for the rush was obvious. After all, Shino was a little late to his own funeral.

* * *

"Hinata, _please_go home. You do not need to help with the dishes and the clean-up. It is… something to take my mind off of things."

"But Mr. Aburame, you have plenty on your plate as it is. I _know_ you did not… take a break from missions, despite this being a period of grieving for you… and it's really no trouble. Tomorrow is my free day, and staying late makes me feel helpful."

"How do you know that tomorrow I work?" Shibi asked, tucking his hand into his jacket pocket, as if searching for his work schedule or a mission note.

"Because I came into the Hokage's office right after you and _asked_, Mr. Aburame. Hyuuga do not only use their Byakugan, remember?"

It was strange how over the past months, she and Shino's father had actually become friends. Hinata was close with her father, and he gave off the same serious vibe that made most people feel uncomfortable. While it tended to put her a little on edge, however, Hinata usually felt comforted by it, though she couldn't imagine dating someone as serious.

It would be… extremely awkward, to say the least.

Meanwhile, Kiba was waiting in the main room, sitting down on their couch. He felt awkward helping with housework and even more awkward chatting up any of the Aburame family, but he didn't want to leave Hinata behind.

For one, he wanted to walk her home. For two, he kind of wanted to go out to eat with her before walking her home. For three, he was still trying to get in as much alone time with her so that asking her out wouldn't be so out of the blue.

It was hard.

He didn't even have _Akamaru_ to talk to. Akamaru wasn't allowed in the house. Any house. Well, any house except his own.

And that's why Kiba spent all his time running around in the forest and didn't go to fancy social occasions like this… unless it was a friend's funeral. Then of course, he'd brave the awkwardness.

As he sat there, he suddenly felt something… off. Something that wasn't supposed to be there. A few seconds after that feeling started setting in, Akamaru growled and began barking madly, going completely crazy over someone in the yard. Kiba flung himself forward and went to the front door, Shibi and Hinata not too far behind.

"Akamaru, it's me. Do you not remember? It has been a long time, but perhaps…?" Shino was trying to get close to Akamaru, but every time he took a step forward to have him sniff his hand, Akamaru growled and snapped at him. "Kiba! Why doesn't Akamaru…?"

"I… I… what the fuck, dude? You're _alive_?"

"It would seem so," Shino muttered. Akamaru snapped again, and Shino jumped back.

"Akamaru, _it's cool. _Stop it!" Kiba ordered. Akamaru settled back, walking to sit as near Kiba as he could get without sitting on the steps.

"Shino… you're… a vampire?" Hinata asked slowly. She'd used her Byakugan, as soon as she'd gotten to the door… and she knew something was off about the person with him, and the same thing was off about Shino. There were no bugs in his body, and even more bizarre, he was giving off a much different chakra signature. Before, it was nearly identical to his father's.

Now… it was _actually_ identical to the guy he was with.

"Yes. I am a vampire."

There was an awkward silence. Shino hadn't known what to expect before. For some reason, he'd expected his mother to hug him, crying that she was glad he was alive. He'd expected his father to be at least a little happy that he was alive. He expected Hinata would cry, or that Kiba… well. Wouldn't stare at him like a dumbass, but would instead grin like a dumbass.

But none of that was happening.

"You need to leave," his father said, words tingling down Shino's back like ice.

"Look here, we just came because his bugs are dying, okay? He was some sort of fucking depressed over 'em, and we thought you could help. So. What do we do?" Kankarou bit out, striding forward and setting the crate of bugs near his feet.

"Shino is no longer a source of food for them. The real Shino has died, and they are rejecting his current body. The only way to salvage them is to merge them with a pre-existing Aburame colony. It is not possible for a vampire to sustain them."

Shino was speechless. His father… was rejecting him? Why? It couldn't be right. What had he done, in the span of apparently a few hours, to go from a beloved dead son to an alive-but-disowned status?

"But, Father, I—"

"Vampires don't have fathers, aside from those that turn them. Leave Konoha before dusk, or you'll burn in the sun like the monster you are."

"Do you have _any_ idea who I am?" Kankarou suddenly yelled, pointing a finger at him. "I am the ward of the Kazekage, god damn it, and you will show my child some respect!"

"Kankarou. Don't," Shino said, turning away. "We'll leave. Now."

"Shino, no, we came all—"

"They don't want me around anymore, Kankarou. I am a monster, and I will spend the rest of eternity as such. Let's depart."

"Wait!"

Hinata pushed past everyone else and grabbed Shino's sleeve. Kankarou sucked in his breath and bit his lip, mostly because he was kind of worried that… well… that Shino would suddenly undergo bloodlust and suck her dry, really.

But apparently that wasn't too much of an issue.

"You're… still Shino. You don't have your bugs, and you're… not technically alive… but you're still the guy who saved us that one time we were in the Mist. And you're still the guy who annoyed Kiba every day. And you're still the one who listened to me talk about my family over lunch, when Kiba wasn't around, and gave me supportive advice. Right?"

Shino wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah, trust me, he's still that guy," Kankarou said with a sigh.

"Yes. I suppose, other than diet and… apparently… bug hosting… I have not changed."

"Well, that, and you're kinda undead there, buddy," Kiba said, striding forward with Hinata and clapping his hand on his shoulder. "Sorry 'bout Akamaru, by the by, he's had uh. Vampire sensing training. You know, they're kinda hard for people to read, but our dogs can sense 'em? Saved us that one time, when Akamaru sniffed 'em out in the Grass so that Kurenai could y'know."

"Yeah… I remember…" Shino said, smiling softly.

"If… you do not wish to leave tonight, I know a hotel that does not have windows… we could stay there and catch up," Hinata offered.

"That will not be necessary."

Everyone slowly turned to face Shibi.

"I apologize for my rudeness earlier… rather, I apologize for my outburst from a few minutes ago. It is quite… devastating for your son to be dead and to turn up alive as… well… a creature that most hold obvious prejudice over. Please, come inside. There has been enough loss in the family."

Shino's mother let out a gasp and threw her arms around Shibi's neck. Apparently, she hadn't agreed with him at all earlier, and was extremely relieved now. As soon as Shino crossed the threshold, she was showering him with affection.

"Mother, I appreciate the greeting, but it has been… quite lengthy," Shino actually meant that being held closely for so long was making him ravenous, but he wasn't going to say that. Especially not to his own mother.

"Ha! Suddenly, you make so much sense! You're a momma's boy!" Kiba clapped him on the shoulder.

"And your mother would not be happy to see _you _alive?" Hinata asked, practically rolling her eyes.

"Nah, she'd probably punch me for making her worry. Or in Shino's case, getting picked in the first place. 'Kiba, what the fuck is wrong with you, you couldn't make yourself unappealing for two seconds? You smell like wet _dog_ and they picked you? What the fuck, kid, you're sleeping in the woods for a _month _for this shit.' Is what she would say."

Shino's mom blinked at Kiba, as if thinking to herself, 'That poor boy.' She released Shino and said, "Well. Uhm. Should I put on tea, or…?"

"We're good," Kankarou said with a nod. "We uh. Only ingest one thing, actually."

"Ah. Well, I can't exactly make a pot of that, so…"

"Have a seat," Shibi cut in, pointing to the couches. Shino pointedly sat down in an armchair, rather than on the couch, so that no one would be too close. Not one of the humans, who he wasn't sure he could keep from biting, and certainly not…

Kankarou sat on the arm of the seat. Right beside him. Almost as if he were about to slide onto his lap and give him a dance.

Shino coughed, but Kankarou didn't pick up the hint.

"So. What happened?" Shibi asked, staring pointedly at Kankarou. "As I have heard, none of the Suna vampires were interested in victims. Why did you chose my son?"

"Well, see, it was either that or kill 'im, 'cause Naruto escaped."

"What?" everyone seemed to scream at once.

"He came back," Kankarou said in exasperation, as if it had been obvious.

"So… is… Shikamaru…?" Hinata asked slowly, almost afraid of the answer.

"Nah. That Naruto kid has good timing."

"Perhaps you should… start at the beginning."

"How far at the beginning?" Kankarou asked, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow.

Shino couldn't help but think how amusingly dramatic some of Kankarou's movements were. The way he held his body, the way his face paint tended to accentuate every facial movement, the way his gloves made you stare at his hands every time he did a hand gesture.

And then he remembered that he was supposed to hate him, and stopped being amused.

"How about from when you chose him as your victim, and then skip ahead to when you decided he should be a vampire?"

"Basically, what the fuck made you choose _Shino_ to start with?"

"Kankarou, as it turns out, is very talkative and wanted a good listener. Being that I am quiet, I was apparently, 'perfect.'"

"'kay… so perfect you decided to turn him?" Kiba demanded.

"Meh, it was a crunch-time call. Naruto escaped 'cause he didn't know the rule was, you know, we had to kill everyone we had from his village. I turned him like, eight hours before I was supposed to kill him. My sister was _ready_ to kill Shikamaru, but then Naruto came back for whatever reason."

"What does that make your relationship with my son?" Shibi asked in the same tone that a father would ask his daughter's first boyfriend.

"Well, for right now, we're each other's eternal food sources," Kankarou said. "And he is my therapist. Ain't nothing else going on."

"Really."

"Yes, really. If you gotta know, it's because your son won't put out."

This was followed by the most awkward silence in the history of Konoha. If such things were kept on record, that moment would have been written in bright bold red letters.

Shino pushed him off of the chair, shoving him as hard as he could.

"I assure you, it is not likely to happen in this lifetime," Shino bit out.

"Well, that's excellent, because vampires live quite a _few _lifetimes," Kankarou groaned from the ground. He didn't dodge or move like a vampire, even though he _could _have caught himself. He just… let himself land on the ground, and picked himself back up. This time, he sat in the empty seat next to Hinata instead of the arm next to Shino.

"Let's… change the subject," Shino's father coughed out. "Your bugs. Shino, I'm sorry, but you sincerely can't sustain your bugs any longer. It seems that vampires have a different sort of chakra, and the chakra itself is too strong for them… so strong in fact, that it feeds off of the bugs instead of allowing the bugs to feed off of it." He glanced over at Kankarou, almost suspiciously, and added, "Almost as if the chakra was sentient."

"Not like I know, one way or the other. Fuck, before all of this, I was just a puppeteer."

"Right," Shino leaned forward. "I understand. Is there any way to save my colony, and perhaps merge it with your own, or have I starved them beyond salvation?"

"Around twenty percent of them are already dead, and around forty percent are unsalvageable, but the remaining forty percent may pull through."

"… I see," Shino said, leaning back in the chair. Kankarou could feel this deep, regretful sadness radiating from Shino. He couldn't 'console' him in the way he wanted to, which would be to force him to endure a hug, so he did the next best thing.

"So, while we're here. Who wants to hear about Shikamaru and Naruto?"

"I… uhm… how is… Naruto doing?"

Kiba visibly tensed when Hinata asked the question. He knew that Hinata was obsessed with him, but even the year and a half of absence seemed to do nothing to deter that whatsoever. The one and a half year that the two of them had spent, inseparable, had done nothing to change Hinata's heart at all.

Naruto was still the one she thought of.

"He's fucking crazy. My bro, Gaara, was the one who picked him. Something about his chakra or somethin', I don't know. But that kid can take a fuckin' _beating_. Gaara fed on him so much that normal people would have been drained dry, but Naruto pulled through and was joking the next day! He also saved this guy's ass that one time," Kankarou added, gesturing to Shino.

"It is not my fault that you prodded me into saying something regrettable."

"That's unlike you," Shibi said, raising an eyebrow over his dark glasses.

"Yeah, I bring that out in 'im," Kankarou said, a smirk shining brilliantly. "But man, Naruto just like, _charged _at Gaara when Gaara went all psychotic on him, and totally throttled him. Or well, as much as Gaara ever gets throttled, really. But Naruto—"

"So how's Shikamaru, anyways? We haven't heard shit about him," Kiba said, interrupting the story. Hinata was starting to get that look in her eyes, the look that was completely worshipping over Naruto.

"Oh, yeah. That guy kinda pisses me off a bit. But he got my sister, and she's always been a good caretaker, and she's extremely patient. He still pisses her off from time to time, but he talked her into playing chess and stuff with him every day. When we left, he seemed kinda bitter that Shino was coming here, but…" Kankarou shrugged. "My sister has a crush on him."

"What?" Shino sputtered out, shooting up.

"… are you stupid? Yeah, she has it bad for him. She never spends that much time with _any _of her victims. And when she picked him? Fuck, I've never seen her pick a guy so quick. Dumbass doesn't know she likes sarcasm, especially in guys. She won't admit it, but she likes 'em ballsy."

"Neji told me… Naruto was also… ballsy?"

"Yeah, yeah he was, but in the stupid kinda way. He was obviously trying to make himself look like a retard so that no one would want to put up with him. There's always one," Kankarou said, rolling his eyes. "And it would have worked, if he hadn't had such a strong chakra signature."

There was a lapse, and finally Kankarou said, "Well, Shino and I should head back soon. We gotta be well on our way before dawn hits, or else y'know, we fry."

"Wait. Uhm, before you leave, is it possible for Shino to visit our teacher? She uhm, had a child since…"

"Boy or girl?" Shino said, leaning forward.

"Boy. He's the spitting image of Asum…" Hinata trailed off.

"It's alright, go ahead and tell him. He can tell Shikamaru, and he needs to know," Kiba said.

"Asuma… the boy's father… died. He was killed by some faction up in the mountains. No one knows what happened."

"Oh," Shino said. "How is… Kurenai?"

"She is well. She's raising the child on her own, and has a sister who helps take care of it. She named the child after the Third, Sarutobi."

"It is a nice thought, Miss Hyuuga, however if I recall correctly, the Hokage has Kurenai scheduled for work tonight," Shibi interrupted.

"'Ay Mr. Aburame, can I talk to you for a minute while Shino says goodbye to his friends and mom?" Kankarou obviously meant that he had no choice in the matter. Shibi nodded and beckoned for Kankarou to follow him to the back room.

"So… what rank are you two?"

"Chunin, both of us," Hinata said, grinning. "Neji is a Jonin, and most everyone else is Chunin. Some people are even starting to specialize in medical and recon and such."

Shino leaned around the chair, checking down the hallway. "How is Shikamaru's team doing? Other than…"

"Chouji lost a lot of weight, and everyone is pretty sure he and Ino are kind of seeing each other. He's been bulking up muscle-wise, and is trying to get as big as his dad without being _fat_. I think it had something to do with Shikamaru leaving, actually… he's gained so much muscle that he still looks gross like he did before, but apparently it works better with his family's jutsu 'cause the muscle has more energy stored than the fat or some shit," Kiba explained.

"Could you please curse less, you sound just like Kankarou," Shino sighed.

"So… how are you and Kankarou, really?" Hinata asked.

"… I can deal with him, most of the time. He is a bit pushy for… physical interaction, which I am uncomfortable with, but he never pushes me too close to… sexual activity."

"Too much information," Kiba said bluntly.

"No, it's not," Hinata insisted. "Is he nice to you?"

"Yeah, I… suppose? He keeps me well fed and he let me come here. There's just a... it feels like he's hiding something from me. But I had one more thing to ask. How is Shikamaru's family? And for Naruto, how are Sakura and Sasuke? And Kakashi and Iruka?"

"Well, the Nara family is well. But…" Kiba shrugged. "Sasuke left the village. We have information that he joined Orochimaru of the Sound. And Sakura is crazy into her work… she's kind of obsessed about _something_. She's not right. Kakashi hit a rough patch after Sasuke left, but…"

"Iruka straightened him out, actually," Hinata finished for him. "They're dating, and have been for a while, they've just been hiding it less recently."

"… Iruka is dating Kakashi?" Shino repeated, as if shocked.

"Yeah, they're actually pretty good for each other. Iruka keeps his ass in line, Kakashi keeps him from getting depressed about Naruto bein' gone," Kiba admitted.

"It is good to know that you only have a problem with _my_ sexuality, and are not homophobic, Kiba," Shino said, chuckling under his breath.

"Did you… did you just make a joke?"

* * *

"Look, your son might not be able to read you right since you know, he seems to think that your obvious vampire prejudice doesn't extend to him."

"I do not know what you mean," Shibi bit out.

"Are you fuckin' serious? That outburst earlier?"

"Any parent would be upset to see that their child is a vampire."

"No, any parent would be happy to see that their son was _alive_ when they thought that they were _dead_. Your wife had the appropriate reaction."

"My wife has emotions likened to a normal person. My line was bred to have fewer emotions and be more logical," Shibi paused. "And logically, seeing my son as a vampire is worse than death, since he will be forced to live a life of pain."

"Look, I ain't stupid. There are six villages under the vampires of Suna. Three of them are pro-vampire, two of them are neutral, and one of them has a anti-vampire agenda. I know Konoha don't like us vamps running things, even if we do it fucking fair. If you attempt o contact Shino for any reason, I will have a warrant put out for your head. Got it?"


End file.
